In front of the C-Building, two colorfully painted wooden planters filled with California’s native plants popped up right before school started. Turns out, they were built by senior Sravya Varanasi, who said the idea first came up when she was brainstorming projects to get her Eagle rank, the highest in scouting.

After pitching a few ideas to principal Denae Nurnberg and facilities manager Elder Fagundes, Varanasi said they eventually decided on the C-Building planters.

“When I was walking around the school and actively looking for projects to do, I was like, ‘This would be great because [there’s] heavy foot traffic in that area, and there’s just nothing there.’ It looks so plain,” Varanasi said.

While making the planters, Varanasi said it took some time to gather the materials and get her project approved by Nurnberg. As for the plants themselves, Varanasi chose native species because she wanted something that would thrive in local weather and benefit pollinators like bees.

Once the specifications were settled, Varanasi said she worked with people in her troop as well as some of her friends.

“We just got together and were having a lot of fun,” Varanasi said. “The idea of an Eagle project is you are supposed to lead the other scouts, but it really felt like I was doing a fun project with my friends.”

Senior Anya Rastogi, who helped decorate the planters, said she thought the project was a nice idea and felt motivated to volunteer as a friend.

“I know she’s been talking about it since last year, so it’s been a process,” Rastogi said. “I wanted to help her, but it was nice to help the HHS community and also see the fruits of my effort.” 

The new addition was completed the weekend before school started, so on Monday, it received many compliments from staff, Fagundes said.

“Everybody was pretty positive about it. They really enjoyed it,” Fagundes said. “Most of the teachers from the L-Building and the C-Building [tried] to figure out who did it.”

After spending upwards of 50 hours to complete the project, Varanasi said she was glad to receive many positive comments and is in the home stretch of becoming an Eagle Scout.

“I’ve been working on this [achievement] since I was in seventh grade, so it felt really good,” Varanasi said. “All I have to do now is send it to the board, get approvals and I’m an Eagle Scout.”