Community cleanup allows
PIMS students to give back
By Scott Mitchell Johnson
Staff Writer
DURING A RECENT community service project, Presque Isle Middle School seventh-graders performed volunteer work at several places in the Star City including the Public Works Garage, the Mark and Emily Turner Memorial Library, the Public Safety Building, Main Street, the bike path and Riverside Park. Here, from left: Frances Mendieta Castro, Olivia Randall and Cheyenne Judkins pick up debris around the trees at Mantle Lake Park.
“The work that they did at the parks and along the bike path was a huge help.
Without exaggerating, they probably filled 60 bags of trash and leaves.
I took our big truck with the high sides and filled it three times.”
– Recreation and Parks Director Chris Beaulieu
PRESQUE ISLE – Armed with rakes, gloves, trash bags, paint, brushes and mulch, Presque Isle Middle School seventh-graders recently took part in a community service project that helped make the Star City shine.
“The project, which was held May 3-4, was the culmination of a year-long character education unit,” said teacher Kevin Sipe. “I did something like this 10-15 years ago with a smaller group; then we did it in conjunction with the city’s spring clean-up day that was always done on a Saturday, but we didn’t get as many kids as we would have liked because they were busy, couldn’t catch a ride, etc.
“This year we decided to see if the city would reorganize their community service day to a school day rather than on a weekend,” he said. “We had about 160 students take part in the project and they got a lot of work done.”
To get the project rolling, Sipe went to a department head meeting to gauge municipal interest.
“Those department heads who wanted help then wrote me an e-mail stating the work that needed to be done and how many kids they thought would be needed to do the job,” said Sipe. “We then compiled that and broke the classes into groups.
“We then met with the department heads again to see where we would be, what the kids should bring for equipment, what the city would provide, and coordinated it that way,” he said. “The students brought in rakes and shovels, and the city provided all of the bags and some equipment like rakes.”
At the Public Works Garage, students scraped and painted benches and trash receptacles to go along Main Street, at the Mark and Emily Turner Memorial Library, the seventh-graders constructed a greenhouse, raked leaves, washed windows and cleaned the shelves, while those at the Public Safety building picked up trash around the building.
Other students raked and picked up trash along the bike path, Mantle Lake Park and Riverside Park. Also at Riverside, the kids painted the benches, picnic tables and playground equipment. On Main Street the mulch around the trees was replaced, while gardening work and mulching was done at the airport.
“Some of the people in the city were surprised at the amount of work that the kids could do. I think sometimes we underestimate 12- and 13-year-olds as far as their ability to work, but these kids did a great job,” said Sipe. “We worked with several Public Works employees on Main Street and they said that what we did would probably have taken them a week to do. They were very impressed at how willing the kids were and happy they were to help. The kids were told, ‘Do what you can and do it well because anything you do is going to save us time,’ and they took that to heart.”
Student Macy Desmond helped replace mulch around the trees on Main Street and raked debris at Mantle Lake Park.
“It was labor, but I help out around the house so I’m used to it,” she said. “It was actually fun; there was a time when me, Erin [Ackerson] and Ryan [Lavway] were singing and the worker from the Public Works Department joked, ‘No having fun on the job.’ It was really funny.
“I think it’s something that should be done again next year,” said Desmond. “It shows a big improvement on the environment and around the community. I think it looks a lot better when Main Street has new mulch and there’s not a whole bunch of litter and cigarette butts on the ground and around the trees.”
Logan Huoppi spent most of the time at Mantle Lake Park.
“My class stayed at Mantle Lake both Monday and Tuesday and we raked. We went into the woods and picked up dead brush and carried it over to the pile. My teacher, Mrs. [Tracy] Fox trusted me well enough to go down to the lake and pick up around there,” he said, noting that the students collected numerous bags of debris each day. “I wish we could have had one extra day to finish things up. There were some spots that we didn’t really get to clean up.
“Before we decided we were going to do community service, I never knew how dirty the places were. We found broken glass and a lot of other things at the park,” said Huoppi. “I used to go to Mantle Lake a lot when I was younger, so it was nice to be able to give back.”
Huoppi said he’d like to see the project be a school-wide event next year.
“That way everything would get done faster,” he said, “and it would teach all the students the same thing that we learned … that it’s important to do things for others and give back.
“I think I had more fun than most people,” said Huoppi. “It was something that made me feel good inside.”
Seventh-grader James Gardiner and his group worked at the Mark and Emily Turner Memorial Library.
“Some of the things we did was dust books in their bookshelves, build a greenhouse, wash windows and rake up leaves,” he said. “It was fun. It’s nice to do something for the community once in a while. When I first heard about the project I thought it was going to be bad, but once I got there and started doing it, it worked out fine. I think the library looks better than before without the leaves around the building.
“I enjoyed it,” said Gardiner. “I’d definitely do it again … every year if I could.”
Sipe said he hoped the students made useful connections through the project.
“I had several kids say they’d like to go back and help more at the library, for example, and I said, ‘Well, now you know the people down there so maybe you can help,’” he said. “One of our goals was for them to see themselves as part of the community. These kids are taking ownership and pride in their community. When they see the benches on Main Street, they can say, ‘I did that.’ If you want kids to feel like this is their community, they need to have ownership and I think this project helped with that. Who knows, maybe when they’re older they’ll want to give back or even stay in the area.”
Recreation and Parks Director Chris Beaulieu was very thankful for the job the students did.
“I certainly appreciate all the effort that the teachers put in … and, of course, the work the kids did,” he said. “The work that they did at the parks and along the bike path was a huge help. Without exaggerating, they probably filled 60 bags of trash and leaves. I took our big truck with the high sides and filled it three times.
“They certainly did their jobs, and a lot of it we wouldn’t have been able to do. The work that the students did was work that would have been put off or not done at all because of all the other work we have to do,” said Beaulieu. “It was a huge help to us and I hope they do it every year.”
Sipe said he hopes the community clean-up project will continue for years to come.
“I wouldn’t mind trying to do something that’s spread out more over the year so the kids see it not so much as a one-shot deal but that this is something you can do all the time,” he said. “I’d like to thank the city and the department heads because they worked with us regularly to organize this. They put a lot of time in making sure they had employees to help us, to pick up bags and be with us. This wouldn’t have happened without them. The city took a bit of a chance in that they haven’t done this before … especially with 160 students, so a lot of credit goes to the city for being open to that suggestion.”
PRESQUE ISLE MIDDLE SCHOOL seventh-graders recently gave back to the city of Presque Isle through a community service project that was the culmination of a year-long character education unit. Painting the picnic tables at Riverside Park are, from left: Rachel Scott, Morgan Wilcox and Krystal Kingsbury.
