Beautify Tucson gets THMS students involved

Haley Crowell-Rodriguez
CACTUS CHRONICLE

For many THMS students, Tucson mayor Jonathan Rothschild was the highlight of the Beautify Tucson event, Saturday Aug. 24, at Mansfeld Middle School.

The mayor came to visit the group of 25 high school students after hearing about the event through former intern and THMS junior Christian Lerma, as well as THMS’ Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) chapter.

Although the event seemed like a breeze, it wasn't all fun and games. The team of students started at 8:30 a.m. and worked until 11 p.m.

The job included pulling weeds, trimming trees and bushes, and picking up trash at the middle school.

"I want to participate more in what FBLA does and I love community service," junior FBLA member Kaylie Volpe, who was participating in the event for the first time.

Beautify Tucson is a neighborhood organization run by Mike Birrer.

According to Birrer, the mission of Beautify Tucson is to, "beautify our city and mobilize our people." While the event included many THMS students, some participants came from the University of Arizona to promote community service.

"It's really just the social aspect of it. When people see their friends doing it, it becomes cool," said U of A accounting major, Clark Wager. Wager has been with the Beautify Tucson for almost a year and plans to help spread the word about this project by getting others involved.

Several newcomers, both high school and college students, joined the project.

Cody Pulsipher, a junior at the U of A, came out to help after hearing about it through a friend.

"It reminds me of how much waste we use and hopefully, people will take the initiative of cleaning up on their own," Pulsipher said.

Birrer has had help with other Beautify Tucson projects.

Robinson Elementary took their own action at one point and helped Birrer with a project that became their most successful.

"It started out with 30 volunteers from the U of A for their spring break,” Birrer said. “So, they decided to take the last hour of the school day and get 300 kids, K-5, involved, and we broke ourselves into little projects. And it all ended with a Barbecue.”

Rothschild fully supports the Beautify Tucson project.

The mayor is pressing to for more people to get involved, by starting up projects such as "Adopt-A-Mile", helping homeless veterans, and become reading tutors.

He is beginning to reach out through various forms of social media, television and radio.

“If you spread the word about a good project, people will do it,” Rothschild said.

Beautify Tucson was successful for one primary reason, according to Birrer.

“It all went great because we had a mix of young people,” Birrer said. “It is your future and we got to get you guys involved. We are an outdoor city, why not be outdoors and get some exercise?"