NJHS students spend a Saturday doing courtyard cleanup

Last weekend, members of the Warwick Valley Middle School chapter of the National Junior Honor Society (NJHS) spent over four hours cleaning up the school’s front courtyard. The activity was the students’ NJHS service project for the year!

NJHS service projects are student-driven, from concept to completion, affording them real-world, hands-on opportunities to build leadership and citizenship skills. The NJHS emphasizes identifying specific needs in the school or community and planning projects that address them. Projects are often built around specific activities, such as peer tutoring, charitable clothing and food drives, or, in this case, environmental initiatives.

_{See a gallery of photos, including before & afters, from the courtyard cleanup event below this story!} 

More than two dozen students showed up on their Saturday off to weed, remove dead bushes, replace worn-out weed barriers, shovel mulch (so much mulch!), and plant new plants. They even bundled up the daffodil fronds, which had already bloomed this year, to help them return strong again next year.

NJHS members Dax Morrison and Ulysses Michelson were part of the mulch team.

“I was mostly getting mulch buckets from the truck outside and bringing them into the courtyard. It was, I would say, at least more than half an entire truckload,” Dax said, adding that he lost track of the number of trips he made back and forth.

Ulysses can confirm; he was the one filling the buckets.

“Yeah, that was a lot of mulch,” he said. “I was at the truck filling up the buckets, then helping bring the buckets inside and passing them on to the next person.”

NJHS treasurer Layla Wright explained how students worked with local businesses and organizations to gather supplies.

“We collaborated with a lot of local businesses and other people, and we got a lot of plant donations and mulch donations,” Layla said. “We had committee heads and people to call businesses and then go get the supplies.”

One of the generous donors to the project was actually Layla’s family business, Wright Brothers Landscaping.

WVMS teacher and NJHS co-advisor Danielle Diglio added, “We also want to thank Penning's Market, as well as the WVMS PTA, for their generous donations. And we cannot forget our own Mr. Heyer (WVMS science teacher Ben Heier) for building the new birdhouses for the courtyard!”

Both Ms. Diglio and the students were also quick to point out how their project incorporated past and future WVMS students.

“When we were getting new plants for the courtyard, we also went up to the high school and kind of ‘shopped’ at the greenhouse up there,” Layla said, explaining that the students in the high school chapter of Future Farmers of America were glad to provide some foliage for their alma mater.

The students also contacted the Park Avenue Student Council and the Sanfordville Leadership Club about bringing some additional creativity and color to the courtyard.

“We asked them to paint some rocks, so that when they come to the middle school, they’ll be able to see them,” Lila said. “[This project] was cool, to see us all working together and exploring something new.”

The students are proud of their work and hope the gardening glow-up will be appreciated by everyone.

“Kids can actually go outside in the courtyard and use it as an outdoor classroom… it looks presentable,” Dax said.

Ulysses added, “I think it looks a lot better now. And, it’ll definitely be a great learning environment for everyone who wants to use the courtyard.”

The group celebrated the completion of its service project with a Cookies in the Courtyard event on June 4. Teachers were already using the newly landscaped area, enjoying lunch on the benches as the students gathered.

Great job, everyone!