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Show The West View Page 7 Garden Memoirs _A garden is born. Local residents, ‘Fred Fife and ‘ingrid Caceres, prepare to plant the first trees in the Na. tive Plant. Garden in 1987. Photo by lla Rose Fife aay By Charlotte F e-leffoon 80s. It featured vibrant- _. colored flowers, such as red and sunflowers, which: are drought resistant and thrive in our dry insides of rose hips, or to rub fragrant sage leaves between our fingers as we picked up trash or road tracks across 9th South near climate. Many weeded the garden. Oth West. The area was always of native trees and bushes - red filled with weeds. and tumble- berry juniper, mountain mahoga- identify most of the plants in the garden. Then, to my delight, evade ny and Fremont cottonwood, etc. - were also planted in ‘strategic my trash eighth year, different species After a few years, | | I could I started noticing those same inspired by a geometry assignlocations. plants on desert excursions in ment, my dad and I came up The “We the People Native Canyonlands and Zion National with an idea to design a garden Plant Garden” flourished for more Park, and on the North Rim that would eventually be planted than a decade. Over the years, the of the Grand Canyon, where I in that neglected, littered space. garden began to involve different worked for a season. Together, we constructed a small groups of people from the comAlthough most of the scope - model of a ‘geometrically oe “munity in the design, planting, who helped start it have moved garden. | | and maintenance of individual on or stopped coming to mainThe pares came to life in the _ plots. Periodic planting/sprucing tain it, the “We the People Native parties took place, highlighted Plant Garden” still exists today. by my dad’s famous sourdough Most people might not notice it as they drive by, because it isn’t pancakes. The garden attracted manicured with mowed lawn ‘volunteers from al! over the valley, including many students Instead of a convenient addresses. “[’m going to try and get more west siders to five-minute drive to West High School each morn- | participate in things,” he said. He and vice ing, Inoke Hafoka travels president across the city to East High plan for school, and has done so things, while also building upon the good things that former presidents have accomplished.One for the past three years. In | | 1988, a modification of the school boundaries took effect after the closing of Zach Miller to do some new feeling that Inoke wanted South High School, send- to alleviate as president ing students from the West Side to. East High School was the overwhelming fear of “newness” with and, in the process, creat- which incoming students struggle. | from the University of Utah’s - Bennion Center, members of the Utah Native Plant Serie, and local residents. : Little by little, that barren plot and carefully trimmed shrubs. Overgrown vines climb and curl freely along the chain link fence that separates the garden from the neighboring train tracks, and the woodchip footpath is now of land was transformed to a_ obscured by thick, overcrowded clumps of willows and bushes. lush, colorful, mostly self-supBut, if passersby only knew | porting garden, full of more than eighty different species of native about the medicinal Navajo Tea in the “Moab” plot, the hardy flowers, shrubs, and trees. In the midst of the city, I -pinon and ponderosa pine trees, learned the names and uses of _ the blooming prickly pear cactus many desert plants from walking . patch, dainty blue flax flowers up and down the garden’s length . and evening primrose that open with my dad and Debbie Noel, a» up at dusk...they nee SHOP to ‘native plant guru from Red Butte take a closer look.. | - East High Senior Class President Inoke Hafoka Hafoka, after being asked if the range of social classes at East High causes more promises to promote cultural diversity. Photo courtesy East High School. of diversity among East High’s student body officers has sent passed since the boundary change of °88, and not one of © the 14 separate student body presidents at East High has ever come from the west side of town. But this year, things are different. Hafoka is serving as East High’s Senior Class President the opposite in the this year, and he is looking for school years have participation from each one of his peers, no matter their harm than good. “I: like how diverse it 1s - not.just culturally, either.” East’ High seems to take pride in diversity among their students, but a curious absence past. Fourteen stopping to taste the tart, gooey porch was a vacant, weed-ridden © field that ran parallel to the rail- — By Eric Watson Pe saee through, orange gaillardia daisies, purple penstemons and bright yellow West Side Senior Class President © a Milestone at East High ing a more diverse student body. “I think it’s better. It’s different. You get viewpoints. from [the] East Side and West Side,” said to see us meandering Thiguchaat most of my childhood, the view from my front In _ From barren-to beautiful. Blue flax flowers éngulf a nearby mountain mohagany plant in the Native Plant Garden. Photo by Fred Fife. Gardens. It was. not uncommon Pamphlets handed out on registration day _j explained what new students could expect their first year at East. Instead believing of that simply east-sid- ers dominate things, Hafoka took a shot and won. He and Miller will make changes in the next ten months. But the biggest accomplishment may be simply winning the elec- | tion. West-siders may feel like they actually have something to contribute to their school. Hafoka has cracked open the door of possibility for his peers and for students to come. The uate the city. flourished with the help of many volunteers from around |