Palm Desert High School Designated ‘Cuss-Free Zone’

Palm Desert High School is the first and only campus in the state of California with a staff challenging students to take the no-cussing challenge for a good cause.

On the first day of the challenge, almost 80 students signed up with the Palm Desert High School No-Cussing Club.

Kaylynn Belk is the club’s secretary and detailed the contract line-by-line.

“It says, I won’t cuss, swear, use bad language, tell dirty jokes,” she said.

Club advisor Ossil Macavinta says his word is his bottom line. He said he’s a man of his word, who hasn’t uttered an obscenity since 1990. He’s hoping his example rubs off.

“Clean language, clean campus, clean and respectful classrooms. If we can achieve that as a club, I think we will have more high performing students on campus,” he said.

Each classroom has a no-cussing jar, so, anytime someone let a dirty word slip, this week, they had to put a donation into the jar.

That money will benefit Martha’s Village and Kitchen, turning a negative into a positive.

Freshman Alexis Framness shared why she signed up.

“I don’t want to be some bad kid at school that cusses everyday,” she said. “I want to try to stay strong.”

Look at the headlines to see you don’t have to be a kid to shock people with your choice of words.

Just last week, conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh referred to law-student Sandra Fluke as a “slut” and “prostitute” after she argued her university’s health insurance should cover contraception.

President of PDHS’ No-Cussing Club Lorin Ball says, “It’s not good at all. It’s one thing to call someone a derogatory term. It’s another to mean it. It’s not something politicians and people — we’re supposed to look up to — should be saying. It sets a bad example for all of the kids.”

If Limbaugh happened to be on campus he’d be expected to pay the consequences.

“He would have to pay a few bucks into the jar,” the club members joked.

Holding everyone accountable for not only their actions, but words, is a lesson the club hopes everyone learns.

“It takes a lot of courage to do something like this,” Macavinta said, “especially when it’s the norm on a high school campus. I’m really proud of them.”