By McKenna MIDDLETON, intern

On April 18, six Girl Scouts from Troop 15011 spent their Saturday weeding, painting, and planting at Valley View Elementary School. The seventh grade girls are alumni of the elementary school and chose to give back to Valley View as their silver award project.

Katie Clem, Miranda Mercer, Laine Stubbs, Sophia Atin, Kathryn Thamasian, and Sophia Wang had been noticing that the gardens at Valley View were looking rundown. The school has not had a garden club since the girls were in kindergarten and many of the flowers and gardens were beginning to exemplify this. They wanted to make a difference and give back to a school they had attended for so many years.

“It feels like home since we went here for seven years and we know everyone,” Atin said.

The current Rosemont students raised money through their Girl Scout cookie sales to fund the project. Each girl sold over 75 boxes to reach the fundraising goal. Additionally, Orchard Supply Hardware donated supplies such as soil, buckets, wood chips, gloves, and flowers to the cause. Kelly Stubbs, the mother of one of the Girl Scouts and teacher at Valley View, acted as a liaison between the school and the girls to make the idea a reality.

From 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., the Girl Scouts worked to repaint the planters outside of the classrooms, add new soil and flowers to the planters, weed and rake the area outside of the office and bungalows, and put down new ground cover in those areas. A Daisy troop made up of first graders from Valley View joined the project at noon. The younger Girl Scouts will be able to carry on the work begun by Troop 15011. They will help with maintenance such as weeding and watering during the day.

“Part of the Silver Project is to pass on the tradition so we wanted to keep it going by involving younger troops,” said Mercer, whose younger sister is currently in the Daisy troop at Valley View.

As part of this continuation of the service project, the six girls will lead the Daisy troop for a badge they will earn in May on making the world a better place.

“It is the hope of our girls that the younger girls keep up this project while they are attending Valley View,” Kelly Stubbs said.

Although the long day was filled with hard work, the Girl Scouts’ efforts were evident. Valley View’s landscape reflected their labor and dedication to beautify their elementary school campus.

  Mckenna MIDDLETON