Jimmy Carter Mid-School Students Battle Blowing Sand

Honor Society, Home Depot built retaining walls, added landscaping

Jimmy Carter Mid-School students beautified their campus with a little help from Home Depot.

April 24, 2012

Ask anyone who lives on the West Side of Albuquerque to describe spring and the word “windy” always comes up. With it comes blowing and drifting sand. 

The National Junior Honor Society recently took care of a pressing need at Jimmy Carter Middle School. With the usual windy spring weather, blowing sand piles up and finds its way into the building, creating clean-up headaches. The NJHS and the school’s Honor Roll Society raised $1,200 to build retaining walls to help stop the spread of sand. 

When the group’s sponsoring teacher Randy Pence went to Home Depot to see how much materials would cost, the local store told him they would donate everything instead, including staff members to help build the walls. Albuquerque Public Schools Maintenance and Operations also provided equipment and staff. 

As an unexpected bonus, Home Depot also threw in 70 plants and 10 trees. Naturally, the day of the beautification project was cold and windy, but Pence said 60 volunteers turned out to help from Home Depot, Maintenance and Operations, NJHS, the school soccer team, PTA and staff, including the school’s three administrators. 

Pence said he can’t thank Home Depot enough. 

“The sense of community was great,” Pence said. “The response from the school (afterward) has been wonderful as well. I had a teacher tell me that her morale was raised simply by seeing what we had done.”