OGDEN -- If there was one thing Adrian Maxson was passionate about, it was helping people.
"It was not necessarily stuff that you would see or be recognized for," said Mark Maxson, Adrian's father.
"He was a very caring person. He was always doing things for other people.
"They were not the things you could give a trophy for or recognize."
Adrian Maxson's passion for service lived on Tuesday as 370 students from his charter school, DaVinci Academy of Science and the Arts, worked at the Ogden Nature Center during their day of service.
Maxson was a DaVinci Academy senior when, in 2007, he was struck by a car and killed near Weber State University after a benefit concert hosted by the university's chapter of Amnesty International.
On Tuesday, the day when Maxson should have celebrated his 22nd birthday, students gathered to serve the community and remember the DaVinci student.
"I was excited because we are doing it (in honor) of a student at our school," freshman Jordan Mobley said while pulling weeds. "We're helping out for him."
Mark Maxson said his son would have loved that his entire high school was participating in a service project, all in his name.
"He would have flipped out," he said. "He would have been thrilled."
Joe Crnich, a theater arts and photography teacher at the school, said Adrian Maxson's love of service helped to inspire the day of service.
"He was extremely involved in social activism," he said.
"We're trying to reflect that same sense of community activism."
Marisa Gailey, a senior, said she was enjoying her time weeding in the cool weather and keeping alive the memory of a former student.
"I'm excited because we got out of class and we can remember him," she said of Adrian Maxson.
Mark Maxson spent the day volunteering with the students as well, weeding alongside his younger son, an eighth-grader at DaVinci Academy.
"(Adrian's) untimely passing caused me to take a different look at life," he said.
"It made me realize the things that he was passionate about are things that I needed to be passionate about as well.
"Community service, the environment, social justice -- he was passionate about all of those things.
"I feel like I have kind of woken up to that I need to get busy and I need to be more like him."
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