On April 27,2012 Thomas Jefferson students came together and did their part by cleaning at least one thing around TJ.
Be the Change group organized a school clean up on friday. Artwork by Kiera Classen
During fourth period on Friday, April 27, 2012 students were encouraged to come help clean up Thomas Jefferson along with their class or club members. This community event was an idea created by the Be The Change Club here at TJ. “This club then paired up with Challenge Denver who has had a campaign going on called Just 1 Thing,” said Assistant Principal and Athletic Director Lani Nobles. “This campaign encourages everyone to just pick up one piece of trash, or clean just one thing to help out your community.”
The clean-up event that was hosted by the Be The Change Club had a great turnout. “We had about 100 students show up to help out,” said Nobles. “They all helped by either cleaning windows, sweeping the grounds around TJ, or picking up trash.” The clean up crew even went as far as cleaning Jefferson Square Park and the Jewish Center down the street.
Not only did the community benefit from this but the TJ student body did as well. “By doing this event students were able to get one hour for their TJ graduation community service hours,” said Nobles.
The TJ students say they enjoyed this opportunity because they didn’t have to worry about getting transportation for the community service. “I thought this was really cool because it gave everyone a chance to help out and get an hour done of community service right here at school,” said freshman participant Brandon Lieker.
After students had done their part for the community they were then provided with a lunch. “Challenge Denver helped us out financially with this project so they provided the hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, and cookies,” said Nobles. “We also have to give a big thanks to Cindy Allen because she was the one that then grilled everything that was provided for us.”
Nobles says that since this event was such a big success this year, TJ’s Be The Change Club will be putting it on again. “We are also going to try and do more things like this for next year with the Be The Change Club,” said Nobles. “Hopefully we will be able to do different kinds of events that help out. Our goal is to do one event each month.”
So Spartans, get ready to help out your community and try and do just one thing each day. For those who are interested in getting their TJ graduation hours done, go sign up for a Just 1 Thing event next year! “
