I am Valan, seventh grader and two year participant of the STEAM program. For the past two years I’ve been in the program, I’ve enjoyed the activities that we’ve done in an effort to work on our green median in the neighborhood of Laurelton.
In the program, we decided to focus on the green median to maintain and beautify it. We’ve done this in a plethora of ways. I personally have worked on ones where we cleaned up trash, picked weeds(that was fun), planted daffodil bulbs, and placed compost. Funny story about the compost. We had to carry big compost bags to the green median from our school. I helped a peer carry a bag as he was having difficulties. When I took the bag, we accidentally flipped the bag and compost fell all over my feet and his. It got on the ground and in my shoes.
Highlighting Laurelton’s green medians is very important. It does two main things:
1. It shows the community effort to beautify the neighborhood, which also proves that white flight was not a justified movement. White flight was a movement where white residents of urban neighborhoods relocated. They did this because of an influx in black residents moving in. Due to prejudice, they thought that the black residents would destroy different aspects of the neighborhood. This movement happened in Laurelton too.
2. It sets the neighborhood ascetic apart from other ones. This gives Laurelton its own identity, and it makes the neighborhood more memorable to those who pass by.
In conclusion, as a member of the STEAM program, I’ve helped give Laurelton an identity, disproved prejudice actions, and served my school’s community while doing it.
