A blizzardous few days left NVD juniors feeling uneasy about their walk to school the following few days. With multiple feet of snow covering the field, parking lot, and steps, the trek into school was looking almost impossible, until a few relentless students took matters into their own hands.
Juniors Vince Parlamis, Julian Gorenstein, Yonatan Evar, Ari Borek, and Matthew Keegan saw a problem and decided to not only fix it for themselves, but also for every one of their classmates.
After the first snow storm earlier this school year, students began to see major problems with their journey from the parking lot to the front door. It consisted of a swampy, muddy field followed by a snow-covered turf, leaving the bottom of everyone’s pants soaking wet and covered in dirt. As if that’s not enough, the final climb – ice covered steps and dripping bleachers – made for a strenuous morning commute.
After another treacherous storm and almost three feet of snow, covering the entire junior parking lot and the path leading to the front door, these boys had had enough.
“We wanted to help our peers who also struggle while walking up the snow packed path. [The school has] to understand people will be late unless something was done because there was no parking or walking paths for the juniors,” Gorenstein said.
Although this problem has occurred once before, they felt no long term fix had been initiated. They picked up their shovels and took matters into their own hands, whether it would take 30 minutes or three hours, they were ready.
“We took it upon ourselves to fix it. It means a lot to me and I try my best to make our grade have the best experience in high school and to have fun,” Evar said.
Their efforts definitely did not go unnoticed. Many students of the junior class were relieved the following day to find their path to school had been cleared of the snow and was significantly more manageable.
“I was actually shocked the following morning. They had told us the night before what they were doing, but I did not expect for them to do such a good job. It was so much easier to get to school that morning and so much quicker,” junior Lila McElroy said.
While many students benefitted from the cleared path and appreciated the efforts made, others decided to step up.
“I saw some friends shoveling the path and I knew that it wouldn’t get done without help, so I decided to help them out. It was a spur of the moment thing,” Keegan said.
With all the snow and cleanup required by the janitorial staff, their initiative and contribution lessened the burden and demonstrated a collective responsibility to make the NVD community better.
“I think it really goes to show how dedicated the student body here really is,” junior Molly Brisman said. “Everyone wants their friends and peers to have the best experience, and they made that possible.”
