Holly Teen’s NHS Project Leads to Spruced Up Park
Holly, MI – Claudia Klempp is a Junior in high school and as part of the National Honor Society she is required to have community service hours in general as well as have an individual service project. The High School members of the society choose many different types of service projects that help all over our community and do great things; Claudia chose to help the Village of Holly Parks Commission spruce up Crapo Park in downtown Holly.
Claudia went to the park and came up with a plan of what she wanted to accomplish- everything from pulling many weeds and mulching the flower beds in the parking lot and park, to picking up garbage and debris from with in the park, cleaning and fixing up the signage and flower bed around the pavilion, and painting the benches, pavilion and swing sets.
She then wrote a speech to present to the Parks Commission and The Downtown Development Authority Board of what her project would entail and get their endorsement. Her father, Nick Klempp, watched with pride as his daughter presented her plans. Klempp is the Director of the DDA, yet it was still up to the board whether to give permission or not.
“Since they were born our girls were always taken around to help at community events and clean ups. They have grown up knowing the importance of serving the community to make it better” Her Dad Nick Klempp said.
Claudia is the 5th generation of Klempps in the Holly area and she said she chose the park because of her connection to the, and love for the, downtown area. “We spend a lot of time in the downtown shopping and helping at events and it is a great place to be.”
She said she knows that people are short handed right now and there is a lot to take care of so she wanted to help to make something better.
After getting approval from the Parks Board and the DDA, Claudia set about implementing her plan. She put out a request to get some help with the weeding and mulching and some community members came to help as well as her family. Much of the work was completed in time for the Village’s annual Holly Days Festival.
Claudia said “It feels good to be able to plan something out, get approval for it, work hard and then look and then be able to see the difference it makes in an area. It feels good too to see people say that the park looks better and is looking nice”
At the last parks commission, they took time to thank Claudia for her plans and work on the park.
