Planting trees, plucking weeds and hauling mulch; even after hours of school, still weary from class, the Spruce Up Sparta club gets to work. They meet weekly — rain or sun, freezing cold or blistering heat — no matter the occasion they meet, but why?
When Spruce Up Sparta was first founded, the mission of the club was to keep the White Station High School campus clean and to provide volunteer opportunities for all students. Now the mission has expanded and so has the club.
“I heard from people who referred me to the club that it’s a really fun experience,” Sebastian Sayong (10) said. “I was looking for a club that could get me a good amount of volunteer hours … and it made interacting with other people easy.”
Since 2019, Spruce Up Sparta has helped raise thousands of dollars for the school; planted over 60 trees across campus, reaching level I arboretum status; added a pollinator garden and has participated in two trial gardens with the UT-Knox.
“With this club, the kids meet weekly and quarterly on Saturdays to focus on campus improvement,” parent sponsor Corrie Metcalf said. “This kind of focus can bring impactful change to the [White Station] community.”
The club has created a way for students to impact their community while also receiving service hours for their efforts. For over an hour after school, students go to varying areas of the campus in order to clean up and beautify the school.
“[We] garden and learn … and we just help out,” Betty Erickson (10) said. “[The campus] would be covered in trash and there are weeds everywhere. And I mean, we come in and just clean [the school] and give it the care and respect it deserves.”
At the meetings, there are times when the group splits in order to impact a larger partition of the campus. Through joint efforts to beautify the school, students are introduced to new opportunities as well as new people, building a community of collaboration and growth.
“When all of us were in front of the school pulling out the weeds, and even though it was hot we didn’t really care,” Isabella Herrera (11) said. “We were just talking the whole time, we were having fun and time just went by fast.”
From learning the correct way to plant a tree to learning how to collect and store seeds, students are encouraged to try new skills that have real-world applications and benefits.
“Over the summer I went to Jakarta,” Sayong said. “And I remember that we were helping my grandparents do some gardening, and since I had some experience gardening from this club, I was able to help my grandparents way more.”
One way the club provides access to gardening knowledge outside of being a member of the club is by participating in National Arbor Day. White Oak saplings that were grown from collected acorns were given away in pots to any student who was interested. The club encourages students to take home varying plants ranging from tomato to milkweed, all in order to spread gardening knowledge across the Memphis area.
“It was really fun to learn about things I would never really get an opportunity to learn about without this group,” Erickson said.
Clean-up events are not limited to the club’s weekly meetings. With the support of Principal Holland, the club is able to host large, Saturday events targeting the entire campus. Although going back to school so early on the weekends deters many from attending, other students, as well as parents and staff, attend to contribute to a cleaner campus.
“It’s better to go out early in the morning, get some sunlight, talk to new people and just do something new that you wouldn’t do in your everyday life,” Herrera said.
Because of the long hours students put in both after school and on the weekends, some students weed and pick up trash outside of club meetings.
“I think because I started doing Spruce Up Sparta, [the club] made me realize … ‘you know what, I can do this,’ I didn’t need to wait for somebody else to [pick up trash], ” Erickson said.
A newer goal of the club is to create an edible campus that provides food for students, staff or any Memphian in need of food. Certain beds in the garden have been dedicated to providing particular cultural plants that can be used for cooking at home. This allows students to see how their work can provide for the community.
“[The club] teaches you to be observant of your surroundings and appreciate nature,” Metcalf said. “[Being in the club] also teaches self-sufficiency
and skills the kids can use their entire lives.”
Although the club’s mission is constantly expanding, the end goal remains the same: to educate the White Station community on the importance of gardening. As new students join, and the club expands, new ideas and efforts to improve the school will continue to impact students’ lives at White Station and in their future.
“Students can learn how to properly take care of their property,” Metcalf said. “Wherever they live, there is a need for beautification. Wherever you are, you should make it better.”