Getting dirty for a good cause: Citrus High students offer helping hand to younger students

With the start of the new school year only a week away, six Citrus High School students have been working diligently to surprise students at Los Robles Elementary with a new garden when they return to school Monday.

The students — Adam Requejo, Elizabeth Zambrano, Conner Grigsby, Marcos Ruiz, Fernando Gabriel-Moraga and Frank Beltran — have spent the last four days digging, raking, and pulling tree stumps to create a special “Pillars of Character” garden.
But that is just the beginning.

Once the land is prepped, the Citrus students will return to the school to help the younger students plant flowers and tend the garden.

“A lot of schools don’t look at Citrus as something positive. We’re low on credits — that’s why we’re there,” Ruiz said. “But we’re here helping out. This is something positive for the kids — showing them that we can do this and hopefully inspire them.”

The garden will be used for teaching purposes and as a backdrop to the students’ monthly Character Counts assemblies.

“We’re going to plant six tall Cypress trees — each one representing a pillar of character,” said Lissa Lambie, principal at Los Robles. “This is an ongoing project. They will return and mentor our students.”

 And because each character pillar has a color associated with it, flowers of each corresponding color will be planted around each tree. Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring and Citizenship are the characters represented by the trees.

“Character Counts is a huge priority in Tulare County,” Lambie said. “I believe developing character in students is fundamental in developing lifelong successful learners and lifelong successful citizens.”

Lambie said the project helps both schools.

“I’m working with [Citrus High School principal] Kathleen [Pearson] on this. We’ve had Citrus students at SCICON and I always found that the best counselors always came from Citrus,” Lambie said. “They have experienced hardships, therefore always understood the sixth graders. They listened and were sympathetic.”

Lambie also praised the Citrus students for removing several scary-looking Juniper trees from the proposed site.

“There were a lot of big bushes here and a dry field — mostly weeds,” Requejo said. “It took us two days to remove it all, especially the three stubborn tree stumps.”

But it was not all about landscaping for them. They all said they were looking forward to eventually working with the younger students.

The project is something positive, and one of many projects that Citrus students are involved in that gives back to the community, Gabriel-Moraga said.

The garden project is funded with a $5,000 Step Up Service-Learning Grant, a Tulare County Board of Supervisors-funded program that aims to support service-learning projects that address gang activity and at-risk youth.

“I am thrilled with the project. These kids are learning job skills as well as helping their community,” Lambie said.

Contact Esther Avila at 784-5000, Ext. 1045, or eavila@portervillerecorder.com.