Sebastian Nadeau, 15, Ethyn Spencer 13 and Landyn Spencer, just turned 10, joined forces to clean up a substantial mess left behind by a previous group in the school ground area and adjacent park.
The decision came after the youngsters had earlier planned to use the park, but an older group of teenagers had gathered and shooed them off.
“Then the boys went to the park the next day and came back and said ‘mom, there’s garbage everywhere’,” explained Katie Spencer, mom of Ethyn and Landyn. “And I was like ‘what is it, one thing, two things? No, it’s everywhere’. And just like that, they decided to go out and clean it up.”
A garbage bag and plenty of hands made quick work of the cups, bottles and other assorted trash that had been left earlier Sunday night. All told, about 45 minutes of work, and things were largely spick and span.
The best part? None of the boys actually attend St. Michael. They just live near the school and like using the park.
“There was no hesitancy,” Spencer said. “They didn’t want the principal to have to show up the next day and clean it himself when there is COVID to worry about and the safety of kids to worry about… The kids just wanted to do something good for the school.”
They left a note at St. Michael saying what had happened and received thanks from St. Michael principal Kelvin Turberfield the following morning.
“We loved every second of it and it was a great community undertaking, just to see those boys come together and wanting to leave the space exactly how it was left the week prior,” Turberfield said. “It was awesome to see and we’re really grateful to them for taking on a task like that.”
Turberfield has no problem with the school’s park being used after hours, especially since everyone has been dealing with the ongoing pandemic, but would like to see a touch more public courtesy when folks leave.
“People are using the facilities as things open up here a bit and it’s nice to see people out and using the grounds, we’d just like to see the school grounds and the school community left in a clean way,” Turberfield said. “It’s kind of like that concept of no-trace camping, if you’re coming out and using the facilities, that’s excellent we love to see that, but if you do make a mess, leave it the way you found it.”
Seeing youngsters carry such a positive attitude toward their community is naturally as good a sign as there can be.
“It was awesome to see that appreciation for keeping a neighbourhood clean and respectable looking,” Turberfield said. “It’s a great lesson to learn and hat’s off to the families for getting involved and helping out with that, taking advantage of a teachable moment for sure.”
As for mom’s take on the whole thing?
“Oh, I thought it was incredible, my God was I proud,” Katie gushed. “The simple fact they wanted to clean up the community and make the environment better, I thought it was great.”
