Over the winter and spring, the Happy Valley elementary students, staff, members of my neighborhood and an AmeriCorps crew launched the Happy Valley School Community Garden. It's in its first year, so the logistics of keeping it going over the summer are being worked out. The students along with a talented art instructor, Mrs. Chue, worked very hard to decorate the garden with art work and created a lovely little space. And, predictably, as it is situated in the midst of college housing, it was vandalized.

Bellingham is a college town, which can mean that we have a large population of immature students who aren't rooted to the community that they live in. And they generally behave accordingly. When September rolls around, we are forced to dodge speeding cars, pick up mountains of beer cans and deal with the vandalism and theft from parties thrown by students who aren't being monitored by their mommies for the first time.

I encourage the students who are returning this year to emulate the example of the AmeriCorps crew that helped put in the garden in. Give something back to the community that you live in instead of just taking.

Sonja Duncan

Bellingham