By Cassie Silkoff ’25
On Thursday, April 24, 2025, the Derby High School Rotary Interact club and the National Honor Society came together to walk around the campus and its closest surrounding streets to pick up loose trash or anything that does not belong on the roads.
This event was brainstormed and brought to life by the National Honor Society a few years ago and has been a staple event since. However, this year it hadn’t yet been planned. When the Derby Shelton Rotary Interact club realized we may not host the cleanup this school year, they jumped into action and planned it, inviting NHS to join in.
When asked why they thought this was an important event for the community to host annually, the Interact club advisors Jen Moffat and Carlin Ali responded, “As a first year club, we thought that a project where students could give back to their local community in a way where they can visually see their results would be the best way to go.” Moffat also shared that “Every town needs a little help with beautification and making sure that it is a safe and clean environment for every citizen.”
A little after 8:30 a.m., the group began their trek walking towards the student parking lot and into the Little Raiders University parking lot. On this particular part of campus the trash levels were low, however, Ali relays “ There was a lot of glass over by the Pre-K area.” When we continued walking up into the Little League fields the amount of trash certainly grew. There were candy wrappers, tin foil pieces, and loose pieces of papers and receipts. Nedaat Masiat ‘26 described how “The most common piece of trash that we found was bottles. They were everywhere. It was crazy how many bottles filled the trash bags.”
After the group tackled the Little League field, they began walking down Nutmeg Ave.
While walking down Nutmeg, the group split off into two and went to the picnic grove and the basketball courts, where an assortment of bottle caps, chip bags, and wrappers of sorts were obtained. At this point Derby Public works had a truck with us and were assisting in putting the growing amount of trash bags in the back. Emma Hyder ‘25 reported “I wasn’t surprised at the amount of trash picked up because in past years it has been more.” After Nutmeg was cleared out, the group headed to the football field and returned to the school afterwards.
The event is important and impactful to the community and should be implemented as a yearly event. Moffat and Ali stated, “I think it was great that we stayed on campus because you’ll see the immediate impacts of students here, and so will your families as they visit the campus. But also it was a great opportunity for us to intertwine with our National Honor Society and get a really great selection of students to go out and that want to do good in the community. As well as the students becoming adults in society through high school and out of high school and as they are emerging as leaders, us giving them that opportunity to step up and make that change is so important.”
Masiat also said “ I participated in this event in hopes of making a difference and improving our community. It felt really fulfilling to be a part of something like this and it was really nice to contribute a positive change.” Hyder also explained, “There is nothing that I would change about this event; it is important to maintain a safe and healthy community.”
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