news-record.com

Students at Vandalia Elementary weren’t afraid to get their hands dirty May 1 while making their school a little cleaner as part of the Great American Clean Campus Week.

Throughout the day, students put on plastic gloves, grabbed trash bags and walked around the school, picking up trash and other debris.

For the students, it was also an adventure — especially first-grader  Tyra Burch, who  picked up a caterpillar she found in the grass.

Greensboro Beautiful’s Great American Clean Campus Week was April 7 through 11, but the students didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity to participate, said Kelly Ingram, Vandalia Elementary School guidance counselor.

Greensboro Beautiful Inc. is a nonprofit volunteer organization that has collaborated with the City of Greensboro to encourage businesses, schools and community organizations to conserve and enhance the beauty and ecology of Greensboro.

Vandalia was given the OK to pick the week of April 28 through May 2 to have its own Great American Clean Campus Week.

“We started the week off with going green. Since we’re a  (Standard Mode of Dress) school, the students were really excited to get the chance to wear green shirts to school on Monday,” she said.

On April 29, the students cleaned the classrooms and learned about recycling.

The students finished their cleanup week flexing their green thumbs and planting flowers around the school.

“We’ve gotten a lot of donations from Southeast High School, Southern High School, Home Depot and South Elm-Eugene. They were wonderful and gave us all kinds of seeds and gardening things,” said Ingram.

Earlier in the school year, the students also participated in the Greensboro Big Sweep by cleaning up their school on a Saturday morning, Ingram said.

Ingram said the students are also enrolled in an online club called Kids Care, where students learn about caring about themselves and others.

As part of Kids Care, students are taking donations of old cellular phones to be refurbished and given to women who have been victims of domestic violence.

Ingram said they are collecting old cell phones through May 9.
 
Residents can drop the phones off at the school, 407 E. Vandalia Road.

Contact Adria Hairston at adria.hairston@news-record.com.