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Student-led group to lead cleanup events in November

Evan McDaniel (left) and Gideon McFarland have led an effort to create a student conservation group that has planned two November cleanups. PHOTO/EVAN MCDANIEL

Three Hopkinton High School honors students and Troop 1 Boy Scouts are working to preserve Hopkinton’s natural beauty while linking youth and town resources through a conservation group they formed two months ago.

Evan McDaniel and Gideon McFarland have been involved in Scouts for a decade and became good friends in seventh grade. The Troop 1 members’ love of camping and hiking inspired them to start a student conservation organization with friend Finn Ayube.

McFarland noted that the juniors went on high-adventure trips to New Mexico and Alaska, where they focused on conservation projects. These trips fused together their love of the outdoors with the leadership skills they exemplify as National Honor Society (NHS) members.

“That spawned the idea of making an organization that’s youth-led for these trash cleanups,” said McDaniel.

Their first cleanup effort will be at the trails around the Fruit Street fields on Saturday, Nov. 15. A second one is being planned for Nov. 22 for Loop Road and EMC Park.

The group has 10 teens in leadership roles. The cleanups allow students to perform two NHS volunteer opportunities while forging connections with town environmentalists.

McFarland said the Sustainable Green Committee and the Hopkinton Trials Club have been supportive. The town’s Department of Public Works has been “very cooperative,” offering supplies and bag pickup.

“We’re planning on doing the actual organization and administrative stuff to take that burden away from adults who want to participate in citizen science,” he said.

Both mentioned the support they have received from Trails Committee member Scott Knous and Sustainable Committee chair Geoff Rowland.

So far, at least 30 teens plan to volunteer at the Fruit Street cleanup, according to McDaniel. He plans on reaching out to other Scout troops and the HHS Environmental Action Club.

“It was weird to see how positively all of the people in government were responding to us,” he said. “We’re filling a niche that needs to be filled.”

“We want to make this group as sustainable as we can,” added McFarland. “We plan on running it until we graduate, but we want some of the younger people in the high school to get involved now so that it will continue.”

Another aim is to build bridges with adults, they stressed.

Said McDaniel: “We need the parents to come so that their younger kids will get involved.”

McFarland said the group eventually hopes to gain nonprofit status.

— MARY ELLEN GAMBON

Latest News

Unofficial results show Hopkinton residents cast votes in the midterm elections on Tuesday for incumbent candidates and rejected ballot measures that would repeal laws relating to marijuana and gun safety.

During last Thursday’s School Committee meeting, members reviewed results from the fall 2025 Metrowest Adolescent Health Survey.

The Conservation Commission on Tuesday expressed its concerns over a request to remove a mature tree on the site of a home construction project.

This week’s Police Log features one arrest, along with reports of kids kicking a door, a rabid skunk and someone snooping around a Wood Street yard.

The Hopkinton Women’s Club will hold its monthly social gathering and business meeting Monday at the Hopkinton Public Library.

Town meetings tonight include the Charter Review Committee (7) and Open Space Preservation Commission (7).

Photo of the Day

Hopkinton Fire Department personnel pose with Mittens after rescuing the kitten from a tree in the Lake Maspenock neighborhood last month.

PHOTOS/PAVLINA WOLF