NHS students tidy up bike path, parks for annual clean-up day

NEWARK – Newark High School students had an unofficial motto Friday when it started raining on their cleanup day: Deal with it.

It was a bleak, rainy Friday, but that didn’t deter 17-year-old junior Logan Ashcraft as he shoveled mulch at the top of Horns Hill park.

“You get soaking wet. Deal with it and keep on working,” he said.

At the end, it’s worth it to help the community and the parks, Ashcraft said.

“Keep ’em clean and looking good,” he said.

Friday was the high school’s second Community Clean-Up Day. A group of about 60 students fanned out to area parks, the bike path and the swimming pool. They picked up trash, shoveled mulch and did anything else they could do to help get ready for summer.

“It’s our way of giving back to the community,” said history teacher Baron Smith, who organized the event with the Newark parks department.

“(The community) does a lot for us. Let’s do something for it,” Smith said. “The goal is to pay it forward. That’s the goal of this whole operation.”

Junior Cody Workman said he had a great time shoveling mulch.

“Anything community service, I’m there,” he said. “I just love that feeling, knowing that in some way, shape or form ... it has an impact. It does help.”

The mulch was a little heaver post-rain, but Workman didn’t mind.

“I think it made it funner,” he said. “I started getting hot there a little bit, then the rain cooled me down.”

The students were from a mix of groups and clubs — athletes, Key Club members and anyone else who was willing to work hard and wanted to help, Smith said. He knew from the forecast they might have a bit of trouble, but when he walked in the high school’s commons area Friday, he said he saw a group of students decked out in rain gear, ready to go.

On Twitter, students tweeted pictures of the effort using the hashtag #NHSCommunityClean Up. They posed with trash bags, rakes and shovels.

“Clean up at Evans Park. Rain won’t stop us,” read one tweet.

Last year, about 40 students participated in the event. This year it was 60. Eventually, Smith hopes the entire school can get involved.

“That’s the plan,” he said. “A lot of kids have a whole different outlook on trash now after today. Don’t walk by it. Pick it up. Pay it forward.”

hsparling@newark

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