Last Saturday, March 15th, more than fifty students gathered at the Yorba Linda High campus for the 16th annual Mustang Pride Day Clean-Up. From 8 am to 11 am, our Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) and National Honors Society (NHS) helped lead this cleanup. With everybody’s participation and teamwork, we cleaned the outside and inside of the campus in less than 3 and a half hours.
The day began at 8 am sharp in the YLHS quad, where about seventy students signed in and took a group picture. Everybody got into groups and was assigned a station with supplies. There were about five to six students in a group, each cleaning up a different area of campus. Many students, like myself, brought a couple of our own supplies and gardening tools. From the gym doors to the baseball fields, YLHS students picked up trash, raked leaves, and pulled out weeds. Equipped with gardening tools, gloves, and garbage bags, nobody was left without a job. Kaitlyn Joe (10), who is part of NHS, was assigned to the park area behind the school, where she and her friends “raked so many dead leaves and even cleaned up two empty Gatorades and a bunch of plastic water bottles.”
One of the biggest tasks was the muddy grass location, where my friends and I were assigned. Due to the rain and wind, the trash and leaves were piled up in different corners and areas. Although the work was tough, we laughed and listened to music to enjoy our time while cleaning up. Later, some leadership students passed out cookies and water to all the groups who were hard at work. That day, what could have felt like a chore felt more like a rewarding experience. After the clean-up, I asked a couple of students how their experience was, and Azeeza Hirji (10) mentioned, “Today was fun but also meaningful because we got to help clean up the school while being with friends.”
By 11 am, my group collected two full garbage bags of trash in the parks. Even the parking lots and sidewalks were not forgotten, as we picked up plastics and dead leaves, making the school entrance more welcoming. It was a huge accomplishment for all students who woke up early to help. What might seem like a simple clean-up took the effort of many students, working together to create a cleaner environment for our school campus.
As the morning wrapped up, most of the students, including myself, left the school with a sense of Mustang pride. As a bonus, we were also rewarded with three service hours and a tray of leftover cookies. A huge thank you to everybody who volunteered their time to help make an impact on the YLHS campus and take an active role in cleaning!
