As part of its school beautification project, which aims to add to the campus’ aesthetic appeal, PTSA Student Club has begun planting small gardens in the empty dirt plots in front of the classroom buildings.

The club formulated the idea when former PTSA Student Club co-President Diana Vu (12) suggested a project to make use of the empty plots by turning them into succulent gardens.

“PTSA aimed to begin a school beautification project and bring a little life to our campus,” PTSA Student Club co-President Priscilla Nguyen (10) said. “We also wanted to help students appreciate our campus a little more with something like a succulent garden being a decorative reminder.”

These gardens will replace the trees that were previously planted in the plots around campus. The trees were removed because many of them had not grown in the last few years.

“Some of the trees that were removed were in the way or were dying, so the plots were already there and we thought [we could] make use of them to help improve the look of the school instead of having the empty, barren dirt,” PTSA Student Club Webmaster David Galash (12) said.

To begin the project, the club worked with PTSA President Nicole Sanseverino, who helped organize it and gather the tools and succulents for the gardens. The succulents were bought using PTSA Student Club funds or were donated by PTSA parents. So far, one garden has been planted in front of the J building, and PTSA Student Club is brainstorming new design ideas for future plots. For plots that are closer or more grouped together, the club members plan on designing a common theme for all of them.

“The [first garden] that we did was just to test what people’s reactions were,” Galash said. “I think overall, [the reactions] were positive. Eventually, we want to make more gardens and we were thinking of having more stones and having people decorate them and put their names on them.”

Besides aesthetic purposes, Galash said he hopes the gardens will also leave a mark on campus, similar to the walls of tiles that seniors decorate each year.

In continuing the project, Nguyen said she hopes to expand it and reach out to other clubs to collaborate with them on future gardens.

“We hope to team up with other clubs such as ABE and reaching out to other motivated Westview students to plant more succulent gardens,” she said.