Student volunteers from Fountain Hill Elementary School dropped by Books on the Hill during their clean-up visit to Stanley Park on Thursday, April 21, 2022—the first of several planned park clean-ups by the civic-minded group. The initiative was led by 4th-grader Kali Drayton (seen here with classmate Yousef Abuharthieh) as part of the school’s leadership development program, the Student Lighthouse Team. The team rolled up in two Lehigh University vans, accompanied by Griffin Fox, Devon King, and Nate Cable of Lehigh’s Community Service Office.
After tidying up the park, the students came in for a storytime with BAPL’s Cleveland Wall. Cleveland read them Kamala and Maya’s Big Idea by Meena Harris, and they talked a bit about their project. When asked what inspired the project, Kali said she had noticed the parks needed a clean-up, but everyone seemed too busy to do it, so she decided to do it herself–and enlisted the help of her classmates to make an even bigger impact. Lehigh student Griffin Fox said he was inspired to see young leaders standing up to better their community. “These kids have bright futures ahead of them,” he said, “and I’m just proud to have facilitated such an important event.”
The group, which includes Kali Drayton, Naomi Monfre, Norylin Cruz Dejesus, Yousef Abuharthieh, and Ariana Bermudez, also plans to clean up Dodson Street Park and their own playground at school.
Photo credit: Griffin Fox