Xavier Barneclo — best known around Cam High as the current co-president of Naturally Green and National Honor Society, co-founder of the Robotics Club, participant in the German-American Partner Program (GAPP), and the head figure who established and created the current garden in front of the office — will be a graduating with the class of 2019.

Barneclo has made quite the name for himself through his countless activities and extracurricular events.

His native plant garden, which he designed during his sophomore year in 2017, saves thousands of gallons of water for the school. The garden is more water efficient than traditional grass plots, and Barneclo replaced the sprinkler system with simpler irrigation pipes that do not waste water.

“There were a couple main goals with the project, but water [efficiency] was the main goal since there was the drought happening at the time. A couple other central ideas were giving native endangered species, such as bees and butterflies, more habitat, and making the area look even slightly nicer [because] the area was just dead grass beforehand. Now there’s actual plants with flowers and even a bench,” said Barneclo.

Barneclo handled the bureaucracy and paperwork portion of his garden project, receiving help from occasional volunteers that did labor, planting, and construction alongside him.

Not many students can boast about doing such ambitious things as Barneclo has done in his four years at Cam High. He offers this piece of advise to underclassmen who want to take on projects in the future: “It takes a lot of hard work, I’m not going to sugarcoat that. You gotta juggle classes and extracurricular activities. It can seem rough, but if you’re really passionate about what you’re doing and you’re really interested in it, like how I’ve always been interested in the garden and robotics, it is possible.”

“It’s all about your attitude; your willingness to pursue your ideals. These experiences were definitely worth it and amazing for me. I had an awesome time just learning about these topics because they always peaked my interest. The journey has just been a major eye-opener about life, and I realized I can actually leave an impact on the world around me,” said Barneclo.

Barneclo’s ambition and ironclad work ethic is something to strive for, and he will be attending the University of California, Berkeley after graduation.