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Students spruce up city for summer

By Cati Keith 4 min read

Students from the Altoona Area High School's junior and sophomore classes reminisced about their favorite locations throughout the city while cleaning various public spaces as a part of the annual Toona Tune-Up event on Wednesday.

Accompanied by teachers, the students went to 10 different locations, including downtown 11th Avenue, Fairview Park, Highland Park, Vets Field, Juniata Memorial Park, Geesey Park and Valley View Park to beautify the city in preparation for summer.

For Emma Blazer, Sarah Sackett and Kiara Flanagan, it was their first time participating in the event. The trio were tasked with painting the Heritage Plaza gazebo, light poles and trash cans on 11th Avenue.

They agreed that they enjoyed the opportunity to help spruce up the downtown area.

"I like seeing what it looked like before and then seeing the final product and helping out the community," said Blazer as she put black paint on the gazebo.

The girls don't go downtown often, but Sackett likes visiting Tom & Joe's, a family diner on 13th Avenue, while Flanagan enjoys marching downtown with the band in parades.

The recent Juniata Memorial Parade and band camp in the summer are always fun, Flanagan said.

All three girls especially enjoy going to the mall and hanging out at Mansion Park.

"There's Urban Air, there's a lot of stores downtown you can walk to," Sackett said. "We have fairs sometimes so that's cool, and concerts."

Science teachers David Borst and Robin Deshong accompanied the group of students working on 11th Avenue.

Borst said they had about 20 teachers and 115 students divided up between all the locations.

"I've been doing this since it started and always look forward to helping out in the community with the students," he said.

Borst chipped in as well, assisting with painting and other tasks.

Deshong, who created the community service event, said the last week of school is the best time for this type of activity.

"The last week of school is always nice, and with things being a bit slower, it is the perfect time to take the students out into the community," Deshong said.

Sophomores Emily Rettburg and Sarah Saylor pitched in at Highland Park by mulching, weeding and painting picnic tables with a group of students.

"I think it is just fun to give back to the community and have fun while we are doing it," Saylor said.

Rettsburg said she was grateful for a chance to help out a place she has known all her life.

"I live right down the street and I came here all the time as a kid," she said, recommending the park for people with kids and dogs.

Music teacher Kelly Sipes supervised the students in the park, saying they had been there since 9 a.m.

"It is going great," Sipes said. "We had some little kids here this morning and the parents were very appreciative that we were taking the time to do this."

For anyone visiting Altoona for the first time, Rettsburg recommended checking out the Railroaders Museum, Horseshoe Curve and anything to do with the area's history.

"I recommend just going to see it because the history of this town is so cool," Rettsburg said.

At Juniata Memorial Park, students were also helping with mulching, weeding, raking and painting benches. One special task involved waxing the equipment in the spray park.

Chandler Brendel, Manny Miller, Tyson Reid and Kaden Daniel agreed that helping out at a park they had all been to before was enjoyable.

"I just enjoy helping the community out," Brendel said.

They also agreed that they enjoyed hanging out in all of the city's parks to play sports.

"I like hanging out at the parks and playing basketball such as Fairview -- just anywhere you can play sports," Reid said.

Miller suggested the Altoona Curve for people who like baseball.

"Watching a game at the Curve is always a good time, there's waterslides at Delgrosso's and there's also Lakemont," Miller said.

At Fairview Park, a group of students edged the sidewalks and cleaned up the area.

JJ Steinbugl said he goes to Valley View Park a lot and recommends it to others who enjoy being outdoors.

"We're trying to help out the community with one of the ways we can," Austin Parker said. "It is a beautiful day and the fact that we are all here together is great."

The Toona Tune-Up event is a great kickoff to summer, said Paula Foreman, district spokesperson.

It's "a great way for our students to show pride in our community," she added.

Mirror Staff Writer Cati Keith can be reached at 814-946-7535.

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