Courtyard Cleanup

On Thursday, September 28, many geography students from Bacon Academy were taken out of class, much to their delight, to go outside. Mrs. Blanchard decided that the courtyard needed sprucing up, since she stated it had not been done in the last couple of years. When asked, Mrs.Blanchard claimed that this had been done in the past, herself being the mastermind behind this cleanup.

She brought out the shovels, rakes, hedge shears, gloves, and even sledgehammers, just in case, and gave her students an alternative to doing physical work: paper work. Thus, the majority of pupils chose to garden.

There were plenty of overgrown weeds, leaves everywhere, and vines that were even growing out of the cracks on the concrete steps, leaving lots of work to be done by the students.

As the weeds were pulled and the leaves were raked, secrets were uncovered. These secrets being trash, and lots of it. Just some of the objects discarded into the flowers alone included candy wrappers, a tennis ball, the rubber part of a remote, and even a mouth guard.

When asked what benefits would come from cleaning up the courtyard, Mrs. Blanchard answered, saying that it was for the aesthetics, to make it look better and not trashy, and to create space for prom pictures.

Although all the students worked long and hard cleaning the courtyard, it still was not immaculate. Elena Smith from Mrs. Blanchard’s class in period 5B stated, “As we walked back from gym, I looked out into the courtyard and saw janitors out there cleaning up!” If this was true, a larger part of the student body who was persuaded into helping may have been angry. Since they are not professionally trained in gardening, others who are more educated to do that type of work, such as the custodians, could have done it. So students were asking, why did they have to clean up?

Other volunteers realize that the opportunity to help tidy the courtyard was the right thing to do, especially if this is their school and they wish it to be presentable. The courtyard had not been a main focus for the custodians, as they have the interior of the school to look after as well.

By: Avery Raber