By Lily Belcher
Despite restrictions on club meetings and events, Durant High School’s chapter of the National Honor Society (NHS) has continued to serve its community by picking up trash along Keysville Rd. through Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful’s Adopt-A-Road program.
“Adopt-A-Road is important to participate in because it helps to keep the road near our school clean and contributes to the image we like to present at Durant,” said Durant NHS Student President Savannah Still.
“We do a lot of different service events and basically just helping out the community and making sure that the place we live is a beautiful and safe place,” Durant senior and NHS member Laura Newman added.
Durant’s chapter has 99 members who are required to perform at least two chapter events each semester. Each month, members have the option of signing up for the Adopt-A-Road event to fulfill the requirement, where students meet after school to collect trash off the road and uphold the National Honor Society pillars of scholarship, service, leadership and character.
“Participating in Adopt-A-Road fulfills all four pillars of NHS by demonstrating that the student balances extracurricular obligations while maintaining academic rigor, devotes time and effort into serving the community, practices leadership and is an example for other students,” reflected NHS member Karlie LeFor.
In December 2020, 18 students met after school and walked a mile down Keysville Rd. in socially distanced groups to collect litter. After only an hour, Durant NHS students had gathered eight bags of trash, which were disposed of by NHS Advisor Eric Soule.
Durant adopted Keysville Rd. last year through Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful, which has been dedicated to “promot[ing] a culture of environmental stewardship through volunteer and educational opportunities” since 1989.
Its Adopt-A-Road program was designed to provide an opportunity for organizations and individuals to serve and preserve their community by keeping roads and parks clean and maintaining the appearance of the cities of Tampa, Temple Terrace and Hillsborough County.
Through Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful, over 1,000 Adopt-A-Road projects have been started, keeping 2,465 miles of roads free of debris and garbage.
For more information about the Adopt-A-Road program, contact adoptaroad@keeptbb.org or visit keeptampabaybeautiful.org/adoptions.
