Last Friday, the Spanish Club took a day to help make Galveston better. Ms. Karmel and Mrs. Mannering teamed up with United Way, an organization with efforts to improve our community. “Last year I was looking for ways for the Spanish club to do volunteer work and came across the United Way of Cass County’s Live United opportunity,” stated Ms. Karmel. United Way picks where helpers will be going based on needs submitted by the community. After getting the confirmation from United Way, the Spanish Club set out for Galveston Park.
As the club members arrived at the park, we split into groups to complete different tasks. Some students went inside to clean the community center while others stayed outside to tag-team the park. The students inside spent time sweeping, mopping, and cleaning the bathrooms, windows, and kitchen. The club members that stayed outside wire-brushed benches in preparation to paint, wiped down playground equipment, took down cobwebs, and pulled weeds. Kennedy Thorpe, a senior club member, helped clean the Community Center. “Cleaning the Community Center was very fun because of the people I got to volunteer with,” said Kennedy Thorpe. Maryn Zeck, a junior club member, was outside pulling weeds with some of her friends. “Pulling weeds wasn’t bad at all. My friends made it really fun. We also listened to Taylor Swift, which I really liked because I love Taylor,” exclaimed Maryn.
My jobs throughout the day were enjoyable because I stayed with my friends the entire time. I started off the day pulling weeds with Maci Garland, Maryn Zeck, Maggie Taylor, and L.J. Hillis. We tackled the weeds with plenty of time to spare because there were a lot of people to help out. After getting done with the weeds, Maryn and I started a competition with L.J. Hillis and Nick Park to see who could paint one of the benches better. In order to paint the bench, Maryn and I had to wire-brush the bench to get all the old paint and dirt off. When Nick and L.J. got done painting their bench, Ms. Karmel judged our benches to see who won the competition, which was definitely Maryn and I even though she said she could not choose a winner. After painting the bench, Maryn, Maci, and I started painting the basketball hoop posts a beautiful yellow color.
The part of the day everyone had been waiting for finally arrived- lunch. Live United was gracious enough to team up with Woodbridge Health Campus in order to provide a delicious lunch for the club members. After eating, all the club members helped gather all of our supplies, so we could get back to school. Since it was the Friday of homecoming, we returned to school for our yearly pep rally. If you were to ask any Spanish Club member if they enjoyed Friday, I am certain they would say yes!
