On most Saturdays, the school stands empty, silent and untouched, but on Beautification Day students and faculty swarm the school, ready to work—and work hard.

Beautification Day is the one Saturday every fall that students and faculty work together, side-by-side, to maintain, and “beautify,” the school grounds.

“All the hard work we put in on Beautification Day really paid off; the school actually does look so much better,” said senior Jaemin Yoo. “There’s so much less debris and everything is neat and clean”.

Besides making the school pretty, Beautification Day gives the students the unique experience of seeing—and working with—their teachers outside of the classroom.

“It was cool to see that teachers are so dedicated to the school that they would come in on a Saturday and actually do work. It was awesome,” said senior Kirsten Halverson.

Students and faculty worked to clean up Spartan Park and even Physics teacher Ed Linz’s garden, which resides outside his basement classroom. There were also a few parent volunteers who worked at planting new flowers and navigating backhoes. Also, as always, Biology teacher Beth Jewell’s Japanese Garden was buzzing with students, working to build and maintain the unique place.

Volunteers knew they would have to work hard. They didn’t just pick up trash and sticks; some students even hauled giant tree limbs across the school grounds.

“It was surprisingly a lot of physical labor. I actually got sweaty,” said Yoo.

Beautification Day is a day full of opportunities, not only does the school benefit, but students are able to get service hours for a myriad of classes and honor societies.

“Community service is important. It’s nice to get hours, but I wasn’t really concentrating on that,” said senior Vicki Knabe.

Students, teachers, and parent volunteers, grabbed shovels, hauled wheelbarrows, and watered plants in an effort to give our campus—built in 1966—a fresh new look.

“Beautification Day is a great way to give back to our school. Instead of complaining about how are school looks, get out there and give back,” said Knabe.