Volunteers improve Sunset High campus
by Haley Tilt, SHS graduating Senior

Volunteers planted dozens of donated trees and shrubs to revitalize the tired quad at Sunset High

Most of us have heard about the budget cuts ravaging the Beaverton School District. Assistant Principle Chris Bick of Sunset High School (SHS) says, “We are reaching the extremes of our own capacity to deliver quality education…so something else has to change. That has to be parent and community engagement.”

This is exactly what happened on May 6, when 429 volunteers flocked to SHS for a community cleanup day. The volunteer force was composed of community members, the majority of whom came from Sunset Presbyterian Church, located west on Cornell Road from the school. Sunset students, parents, alumni and neighbors also participated.

For several weeks ahead of the event, organizers from SHS and Sunset Presbyterian developed a strategy that could effectively move a massive volunteer force to complete three major projects around the campus. Ted Downen, a principle mover on the Community Engagement Committee at SHS, outlined the mission of the cleanup day: “Sunset’s original intent was to do three things: upgrade the courtyard, upgrade the teachers’ lounge, and dismantle the bleachers.” Volunteers also weeded and spread bark-dust in the medians of SHS’s parking lots. At the end of the cleanup, the Sunset booster club provided a hot dog lunch to volunteers.

Speaking as a student at Sunset, I am amazed by the radical transformation of the campus during the course of a day. The bleachers on the south side of the football field—previously a safety hazard—are gone. The courtyard, previously dingy, is fresh and vital, with impressive wooden screens framing out a pleasant space. I cannot personally speak to the teachers’ lounge, but I have heard positive reviews.

The most impressive part? None of those vast improvements tapped the district’s budget. Everything was donated: the materials, the labor, the landscaping, and the concessions. Downen even mentioned, “there were several contractors there that donated all of their equipment and power-tools [for the day].”

Much of the success of the cleanup day owes to the individuals of Sunset Presbyterian Church, who selected SHS for their ‘Engage’ project last month. Facilitating that connection was a newly formed non-profit organization, the School Partnership Network. Representative Jennifer Hall participated in the cleanup day. She commented on the organization’s goal: “We support partnerships between organizations, churches and schools by connecting resources of local ministries with school programs, teachers, administrators and others who know the schools’ needs.”

With a $37 million shortfall in the district budget next year, School Partnership Network might be exactly the type of organization our community needs—one committed to engaging individuals in our schools. To learn more, email Jennifer Hall, Jen.hall@seasonofservice.com, or go to http://sunsetapollos.org/ to get involved directly with SHS.

To view photos of the event, visit http://tadpole1.smugmug.com/SunsetHighSchool/Day-of-Service-Campus-Cleanup/SunsetHS-DayOfService20120506/22860662_2d87kG.

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