On Saturday, August 24th, more than 60 lawyers and staff from 9 major law firms and businesses got their hands dirty digging up weeds, putting up posters, painting walls, organizing libraries, and more at schools across the District in preparation for the first day of school. They joined thousands of other community volunteers for DC Public Schools’ annual Beautification Day, collectively ensuring that 100 public schools were ready for the arrival of their students.
Volunteers from Buckley Sandler, who spent the morning at Walker Jones Education Campus, told Washington Lawyers’ Committee staff how much they appreciated the opportunity to volunteer and spend a “special” Saturday at their partner school, getting it in shape to “welcome back the students we look forward to engaging with all year long.” Sarah Perrin reminisced about her favorite childhood books while organizing the library: “It was so much fun to look at books I remember from my own childhood, and think about kids discovering them for the first time. I was glad for the opportunity to volunteer. I think it sends the message to the school kids of DC that their lives and their future matter.”
Heather Tighe, from new partnership firm Kelley Drye, summed up the Beautification Day experience: “Watching the evolution of DCPS over the last six years has been truly inspiring and I think it’s gone a long way toward fostering the kind of turnout you saw on Saturday. To walk into a school that was so clean, so full of inspirational bulletin boards, murals and classrooms – it showed me how much pride the staff and administration of Noyes have for their school. Our schools are emblematic of our community and, while DC is far from perfect, it’s obvious to anyone who worked on Beautification Day that the determination to exceed expectations is very much the goal at DCPS. Our firm can’t help but be excited to assist in that goal in any way we are asked.”
See 2013 Beautification Day photos on our Facebook page HERE.
We are grateful to this year’s participating firm partners, shown here with their partnership schools:
Beveridge & Diamond + Savoy Elementary School
Buckley Sandler + Walker-Jones Education Campus
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton + McKinley Technology High School
Deloitte + Raymond Elementary School
Goodwin Procter + West Education Campus
Kelley Drye + Noyes Elementary School
Paul Hastings + Garfield Elementary School
Pepper Hamilton + Stanton Elementary School
Steptoe & Johnson + H.D. Cooke Elementary School