Clayton Valley Receives a Spring Cleaning

While many of their classmates were sleeping Saturday morning, about 20 Clayton Valley High students went to school. Not to learn, but to clean.

The early risers teamed up with the Parent Faculty Group to spiffy up Clayton Valley. During a break in the rain, the high schoolers pulled weeds, cut branches, picked up garbage and raked leaves.

This is the second year of the beautification project at Clayton Valley, which has led to new benches, plants and a reduction of gum on the ground.

"That was a huge deal," Micki McCabe Walls, co-coordinator of the PFC's campus beautification team, said of the gum removal. "It was beyond yucky. To get rid of gum on the walkways, they hired a professional to water blast off the gum."

 Saturday marked the third time this year students and parents have come together to clean up the school, and one more event is planned before the end of the year. The goal of the project is to make the school more aesthetically pleasing, in the hope that a cleaner school means a better school.

"The school is old and it looks like it," McCabe Walls said. "We want the kids to have pride in their school but it's hard for students to have pride if they don't have an environment to support it."

One student who has pride is Megan Mayhew. The junior is the campus beautification coordinator, an elected position at Clayton Valley, and she organized last weekend's cleanup.

"I play sports and when I go to other schools I see how nice they are," Megan said. "Then, when other schools come here, it's kind of embarrassing.”

 The cleanup is one way to improve CV’s image.

 “I want other schools to be excited when they come here,” Megan said.