As student volunteers hung up birdhouses in one of the high school courtyards, they reminisced of the trash, weeds, bottles and big rocks that dominated the landscape three years ago. Over the summer, several students, teachers and the school’s custodian worked together to clean up the courtyards and finish beautifying them before the school year started.
Now, one of the courtyards resembles a picturesque garden with trees, plants and shrubbery. And the courtyard closest to the library is layered with mulch instead of trash.
"Many of the classrooms and hallways face the courtyard," said high school senior Kevin Kim. "The cleanup improves the school’s atmosphere."
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Staff photo by maxim almenas
Students at Fort Lee High School beautify their courtyard.
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At one point, the courtyards resembled man-made jungles with weeds growing right up to the second floor windows.
"We found school supplies, bottles and even school identification cards" said Priya Parikh, high school senior.
Barbara Pastore organizes the volunteer projects for students and is pleased with their hard work and results.
"It was difficult to look at," said Pastore. "Maybe now they’ll enjoy it."
Joyce Hamilton, head of the environmental club, and her students picked up where Hamilton's predecessor, Wendy Goldberg started.
"We learned that certain plants can be put in small areas to improve it visually," said Hamilton. "And there’s very good air-cooling effects for the environment."
Sal Bordonaro, head custodian, acknowledged the process was difficult.
"After the cleanup, we did 120 bags of mulch," said Bordonaro. "Now its esthetically and visually pleasing. And maintenance is a lot easier."
Glenn Jacobs, the honors physics and AP calculus teacher and counselor Ray Ruiz, also volunteered.
Pastore said the project cost more than $2,000 and was partially funded by the Fort Lee Beautification Committee. They donated $500 and Hamilton's environmental class also donated $500.
"The kids raised another $1,800 through cake sales," Pastore said.
In the end, the entire student body gained a "greener" view and the volunteers learned valuable lessons.
"I learned about dedication and preservation," Parikh said. "We even worked in the rain. But it paid off."
Although volunteer and high school senior Wonju Lee admits she isn’t more inclined to do landscaping at home, she agreed with Parikh that something had to be done.
"We visited Tenafly [High School] and Dwight [Englewood School] and said, ‘Wow,’ we have to bump it up."
E-mail: almenasm@northjersey.com
