Senseless Vandalism At Lankenau HS Destroys Years Of Volunteer Work

ROXBOROUGH -- Students at Lankenau Environmental Science Magnet High School in Roxborough are proud of their school grounds.

They work hard to maintain rain gardens, peace gardens, flower beds, and a vegetable garden, along with other agricultural feats that unite the student body in healthy outdoor work.

“The students involved in Botany Club work daily, year-round, to maintain the condition of the gardens,” the school said on their website. “The members of the club went beyond their 60 hours of community service requirement in order to give back to Lankenau and make our school better.”

But on February 16 and 17, students came to school to find that much of their work had been undone.

Someone had deliberately driven through the grounds with a truck, uprooting all of the gardens and scarring the grassy property with deep track divots.

The school notified the police. The district’s facilities crews came to the scene to have a look.

“The current condition of the property has destroyed five years of time and effort,” the school said. There are at least two dozen students, entire staff, parents, as well as, Lankenau graduates that are heartbroken after witnessing the property.”

It would have been easy for the school to give up. More than 500 hours of student volunteer work were destroyed in what was likely a matter of minutes of vandalism. The damage has not simply ruined a few plants: it’s ruined a carefully managed, complex botanical system.

“I have come on weekends to help section off areas that our students spent many hours digging up, weeding and mulching - repeateldy, “ said student Jennifer Hardisky. “They also constructed raised beds out of reclaimed wood that were placed around the grounds. All of this work was destroyed these past few days and the ground is completely tore up. There is no way to tell where the dug up parts of the garden were or what was there.”

But instead of giving up, they are asking for help. Help to begin the long, tedious process anew.

Because the vandals don’t get to win.

The school said that it will cost about $12,000 to provide supplies and equipment to replenish the landscape.

“As a community, we are seeking your help in raising awareness for our cause and your help in finding the resources to rebuild and put into place preventative measures so that this does not happen again,” the Botany Club said in a statement.

To get in touch with the school district and learn how to help you can call 215-487-4465 or see their website for more information.