The leadership class recently acquired $17,000 from the school district which will be used to improve the cleanliness and overall beauty of Cal’s campus.

All improvements and beautification will come at no cost to the school or student body.

The class acquired this money because of district changes and changes in funding for the the leadership program.

“The district told us they would be paying for the leadership class, and the ASB fund would no longer pay for the class,” said assistant principal Dayna Taylor.

This change created a surplus of funds which needs to be spent soon.

“We need to spend that (leadership) money because the state doesn’t like it when a large amount of money is just sitting there,” Taylor said.

Cal students can expect to see three changes on campus as a result of this clean-up project.

Leadership first wants to renovate the commons to make it look nicer.

“We’re fixing the commons because our ASB President, Stephanie Smith, thought the commons affect everybody,” leadership advisor Scott Corso said.

Corso didn’t know how much these renovations would cost, but he estimated work in the commons alone would cost $1,000 to $2,000.

Another portion of this money is being used to try to purchase door mats to put outside classrooms for rainy days, as slipping and falling has become a hazard for students.

The last thing that leadership wants to purchase is a new school sign for the front of the school to replace the one that reads, “California High School.”  The old sign would be replaced by one made of metal or stone, which would last longer than the wooden one that is there now.

In addition to beautifying the campus, the leadership class also wants to use this money to help clean it up.

“We’re going to try to get big trash bins to put in the parking lot in front of the stadium so there’ll be less garbage in the parking lot and it’ll look nicer walking into it,” senior ASB vice president Brian Paniagua said.

Leadership is also using this money to add more school spirit on campus.

“We want to tear out a piece of asphalt in front of Grizzly Stadium and replace it with a big brick ‘C’, like the one in the center of the quads between the benches,” said senior ASB secretary Jenna McNaughton.

“We’d get a volunteer group to do the labor (of putting in the ‘C’) and we’d just pay for the bricks,” said Corso.

Because leadership has many ideas for the use of the money and because they’re looking to get multiple bids, nothing is set in stone right now.

“We’re trying to make educated and responsible choices with this money,” Corso said.

Cal students can expect changes to be made soon, and can hope to see these projects completed before the end of the school year, to have an even better campus for the fall.

“I want changes made before the seniors graduate because they’ve worked so hard for leadership,” Corso said.  “We hope the changes will improve daily life and the look of the campus as much as possible.”