Bonanza students help community during annual school event

May  21, 2026 / Students spread out across the Bonanza Junior/Senior High School campus and throughout the community Thursday morning, hauling trash bags, pulling weeds, cleaning headstones, and repainting the school’s iconic “B” during the school’s seventh annual Give Back Day.

The annual event, organized by the school’s student leadership group, sends students in grades 7-12 into Bonanza for a morning of service projects focused on beautification and community pride.
“There’s campus beautification, city beautification, cemetery beautification,” Principal Jordan Osborn said. “They’re sprucing it up, picking up garbage, pulling weeds, helping the city with the park -- just trying to make it look nicer and show some pride.”

Students tackled projects at Bonanza Park and Bonanza’s Memorial Cemetery as well as doing overall community and campus cleanup.

At the cemetery, twins Ben and Anthony Hess were among students who worked to weed and clean grass from around the stones. Like many Bonanza students, the twins have relatives buried in the cemetery just east of town, and on Thursday they worked together to clean a family gravesite.

Osborn said the event is designed to help students understand the importance of service and community involvement. “Wherever you go in life, we have a duty to make the place better,” he said. “This is hopefully instilling that in the kids when they’re young.”

The structure of Give Back Day changes slightly depending on grade level, allowing students to take part in different projects as they move through junior high and high school. Younger students often focus on cleanup projects, while juniors wash staff vehicles and seniors finish their year by repainting the “B.” FFA students barbecue hamburgers for the students to enjoy after they completed their Give Back Day activities.

By graduation, students have participated in nearly every service activity the event offers.

“It’s not the same thing every year,” Osborn said. “As they get older, it becomes a little more fun and a little more meaningful.”

Bonanza ASB president Jean Wall has participated in Give Back Day since the seventh grade, and this year, she helped organize the event. She said the goal is to improve the community and leave a positive impression. “Whether that’s cleaning around the school, helping pick up trash or even helping in someone’s yard -- it matters,” she said.

After graduation, Wall plans to attend the University of Oregon and study biology before pursuing medical school, with hopes of becoming a surgeon.

Beyond the cleanup efforts, Osborn said Give Back Day also helps strengthen relationships between students and the broader community.

“It allows people in the community to see our kids in a positive light,” he said. “This gives us a chance to make sure people see them doing good things, caring, giving back and being good citizens.”