By ADAM STEWART

News editor

After the final buzzer Friday at Berean Academy, a handful of Marion Warriors basketball fans made their way through the visitors’ section, picking up candy wrappers to throw away.

It isn’t an isolated incident. Marion school officials have been promoting cleaning up the visitors’ section after road games in all sports for several years. High School Principal Tod Gordon and Athletic Director Grant Thierolf both credited the tendency to Superintendent Lee Leiker.

“I think it’s just an expectation the superintendent set,” Thierolf said before the girls’ varsity game on Friday.

He said Leiker and his wife, Diane, are always among the first ones to grab a trash can and start picking up. Seeing that makes it easier for others to join in, Thierolf said.

“When we’re at home, we greatly appreciate when visiting crowds clean up,” he said.

The habit has trickled down to the student section over time, with students cleaning up after themselves at away games.

“As an administration, you just kind of appreciate the heck out of it,” Thierolf said. “Any time you leave a place, you leave an impression, and we hope it’s a good impression.”

Thierolf said the district occasionally hears from other schools about their appreciation for the Marion fans cleaning up, but it isn’t usually from the other school’s administration.

And when Marion began basketball season at Southeast of Saline, it was the Southeast of Saline custodians who noticed the clean visitors’ section, noting that they didn’t have to pick up a single piece of paper.