Members of Daughters of American Revolution and Black Hills State University students teamed up to clean and prepare the Exit 12 park in Spearfish for winter. The team spent all afternoon Oct 24 — Make a Difference Day — working on the project.

“The park is basically a reflection of how Spearfish feels about its environment, especially since it is the first thing visitors see when coming in off exit 12,” said Catherine Thybo.

October is sustainability month, and BHSU is an active participant. Katie Greer of BHSU said

“I think the university setting is a good place to not only learn but practice sustainability because these young people are learning to be young citizens. There are a lot of job and career opportunities with sustainability that young people can get involved in,” said Katie Greer.

The D.A.R. and BHSU connected because of mutual master gardeners. Any one can be a master gardener, to become a master gardener one must complete a class and take a test. The two master gardeners connected the two groups and formed a miniature gardening community.

The D.A.R. and BHSU spent the afternoon cleaning the park by cutting out the dead areas of the plants and trimming them down for winter. They also spent time winterizing everything in the park so that in the coming year, it will bloom to its full potential. The day was very productive and fun for the members participating.

The D.A.R is currently entering its 125^th year of service. They will spend the next year working on different kinds of recognition services for the community.