Health Occupations had a heart. Protective Services made a crime scene. Springdale’s managers went for Harry Potter. What all these things have in common is the use of junk to create a mini golf course around the center. Students and staff alike dressed up, put their creativity to the test, and made holes that challenged golfers to get the lowest score on the course.

Junkyard Golf is a tradition at Springdale. Although last year the center took a break, this year it came back bigger and better than ever. Academics did an Olympics theme with students earning gold medals for trying the hole. Health Occupations student Jaybe Ramirez described the set up. “There were three options, bronze, silver, and gold. The gold one was the most difficult, but totally worth it.”

Group prizes were given to Health Occupations for Best Theme and to Auto Body Paint for Best Use of Junk. Most difficult went to Protective Services. They will enjoy a pizza party, a movie and popcorn party, and an ice cream party, respectively. Individual prizes of $10 Starbucks gift cards were given to lowest scores (male and female) and honest score. “We understand the desire to fudge the numbers a little when you start getting a higher and higher score,” says Patrick McFarland, the Recreation Supervisor, “so we want to acknowledge the student who finished the course but maybe not closest to par.”

“Junkyard Golf is an opportunity for students to be creative and to see the utility in things they might have considered garbage. Each year we see more elaborate and creative uses of stuff that is laying around the classrooms,” explains Community Living Manager Ryan Vollans. “It really is a fun way for students to use their every day engineering skills to come up with difficult, but doable, golf holes.”

After students finished the course, they turned in their score cards to be drawn for even more prizes followed by slices of mint chocolate or lemon meringue pie provided by the Cafeteria staff.  Students and staff alike love the Junkyard Golf tradition. “We get to dress up in costumes and our theme is always the best, no matter who gets the pizza party,” exclaimed Chris Roberts, SPO at Springdale, who this year dressed as Dolores Umbridge from the Harry Potter books to fit the theme of the managers’ golf hole. “What’s not to love?”