Westview GOLD and the Westview Athletic Foundation began their annual cleanup of the Westview stadium and campus in preparation for the  Southern California School Band Association (SCSBA) tournament, Nov 9. 

Every year for more than a decade, parents and students of the GOLD have come together the weekend before the SCSBA tournament to beautify the campus. For the first time, however, the group partnered up with the Westview Athletic Foundation to cover a larger portion of the campus and clean more thoroughly. The number of volunteers more than doubled from last year’s 20 to around 50. 

For Westview GOLD member Connor Sing (10), it’s his second year involved in the cleanup. He has grown to appreciate the hard work of the custodians through cleaning the school grounds.

“It felt good to participate in something that would help make our school clean,” Sing said. “It’s everyone’s responsibility to help make our campus look nice, so I just did my part. It was nice to have the Athletic Foundation help out, because in the past it was just the band. The work went a lot faster with their help. I appreciate the work that the custodians do more, because it was hard.”

When the Athletic Foundation heard about cleanup, they volunteered to join to make a bigger impact and help the band.

“We wanted to support band because they really do a lot for our sports [teams],” Athletic Director Steve McLaughlin said. “The Wolverine Athletic Foundation and I met with Mr. Remilliard prior to the cleanup and walked the grounds to see what else we could do. During the cleanup we also added mulch in certain areas, cleaned dirt [around] planter areas, and cleaned sports facilities. Overall, more eyes were put on the campus to notice small details.”

The parents and kids involved in the cleanup had to work for hours in order to make the campus spotless for their competition. Band Director Mitchell Way appreciated the work done on the school. 

“If you’ve ever been in the stadium, particularly after a couple of football games,” Way said, “You’ll notice that there’s a lot of stuff in the stands, and same with the lunch space. There’s a lot of trash left behind from the students. But now, that stadium looks gorgeous. They really cleaned it up, it’s spotless right now.” 

Way says that Westview GOLD takes this tradition very seriously, with parents pitching in the most work.

“It’s a very pragmatic group,” Way said. “That’s part of what I want to make sure is maintained as Westview wants to expand the cleanup. Our parents do a lot. They are everything with these kids. They’re necessary to help us do all the things we do and are really busy throughout the fall. On our side of the house, it’s very, let’s get the job done so we can have a great tournament mentality.” 

 According to Sing, the state of the school and stadium sets the tone for the tournament and can affect the experience of those watching and participating. 

“We went to another tournament and the space where we had to sit was really dirty and covered in trash and gum,” Sing said. “It was gross. We don’t want visiting schools to have that bad experience when they come to our tournament.”

Way said he is especially thankful to the parents of both the band and the Athletic Foundation for the time and effort they put in for their kids.

“The parents do so much for the band,” Way said. “They maintain those trailers, provide chaperones for everything, help us unload and reload at tournaments, set up the props, get the props on and off the field. It’s a lot for marching band. And for them and the Athletic Foundation to come out and help them clean really made the campus look perfect for the tournament.”