McNeil High School has caves underneath it, which have been sealed and closed. But, right in the center of campus is the courtyard.

“We need to replant the courtyard and also make sure that the ecosystem is healthy,” Green Club co-president Aanandya Mittal said. “Even though the caves are sealed and the entrance is blocked, there are still species down there.”

As a community, Green Club students have come together to make the courtyard a better place.

“We want the school to become more involved so we can eventually become a Green Ribbon School and be recognized as a national club,” Green Club co-president Kaylin Williams said.

Williams wants all Mavericks to become more aware of how to recycle, and what to recycle and what not to recycle to ensure the habitat stays intact.

“We need more money from the school to replant the courtyard and make sure that the endangered [harvestman] spider doesn’t leave,” Williams said. “If it does, then it can ruin the entire ecosystem in the courtyard.”

For years the courtyard was a no-mow zone but now it has been getting mowed which is ruining the habitat of the few species living there, including the endangered harvestman spider.

“The current condition of the courtyard is poor,” Environmental Science teacher and Green Club sponsor Tina Vick said. “Because the caves are cut off from their surrounding ecosystem, and the area is heavily managed by mowing, the cave ecosystem food web has become impaired. The caves in our courtyard provide habitat for a rare, endangered arachnid called the bone cave harvestman (Texella reyesi). As the Environmental Science teacher and sponsor of Green Club, I have been involved with restoring the courtyard for the past two years.The overall plan is to create a varied food web and ecosystem that supports the cave organisms.”