By Annie Goodykoontz

The city of Tempe is getting cleaner with the help of Caroline Webster and her canal clean-ups.  

Caroline, a Tempe Prep senior, has been hosting canal clean-ups for the past year as an National Honor Society service project. However, Caroline has been involved in the clean-ups since her freshman year. 

“I took over organizing the canal path cleanup for my neighborhood,” she says. “Tempe has a program called Adopt-a-Path, and families or organizations ‘adopt’ a portion of a path to take care of.” 

Caroline decided to bring these clean-up events to Tempe Prep in an effort to help students get their service hours. “It ended up being really fun and chill,” she said, “so we did another one with NHS.”

While the cleanup process is short, the impact on the canal is notable. “It takes about two hours to do a quarter of a mile,” Caroline says, “We usually fill three or four huge trash bags.”

Not only are these events great ways to help Tempe and its environment, they are also opportunities for volunteer hours. Caroline says, “[The clean-up] was an NHS service project and it counted for group hours, which are in high demand. And we had donuts!”

Be on the lookout for more of Caroline’s canal clean-up projects in the future.