When the students stumbled back into Varela on Monday, the 22nd of August, they may have noticed they were walking among a cleaner, more colorful environment. That’s because of the sweat and tears the FFA club poured back into the many gardens across the school in a single Saturday morning.

In a project organized by Ms. Yleana Escobar, over 386 students turned up alongside some of their fellow teachers, such as Mr. Nguyen and Mr. Thomas, and parents, such as Leticia “Letty” De Costa, in an effort to clean up Varela’s landscape.

Directed by the aforementioned students and teachers and FFA President Jeffery Tefel, the recruited army went to work, weeding, planting new trees, and spreading mulch across the school. And they were generously rewarded. For working in mass for about 4 hours, each student was given 30 hours of community service. Some may question if it was too generous, but the fact stands that the work was done in a timely fashion, to the delight of Ms. Escobar.

What you may not know, however, is just how much money was invested by the FFA into this project. With over $525 worth of mulch and over $400 spent on trees to be planted, it’s easy to see why projects like these are not often seen here at Varela.

“I have a lot of good intentions and promises [to fulfill], but people need to cooperate,” said Ms. Escobar. The truth is, without some sort of funding from the school or outside sources, projects like Hands Across Varela are very difficult to pull off.

That isn’t to say that they haven’t already begun plotting for another large scale job. Besides basic upkeep, Ms. Escobar and the FFA are talking about building an actual labyrinth out of bushes and low-lying trees, not unlike those you might see in movies and theme parks.

It sounds like a very clever idea, but if the price of the last project is any indication, they’re going to need a lot of help in order to make this project a reality. If you would like to help out, please talk to Ms. Escobar in room 307.