By GARRETT SAGER
Hays Post
ELLIS — On Oct. 17, students and staff of Ellis High School will take the day away from the classroom, putting their pens and pencils down to help clean up their community.
On the fifth annual Ellis High School Community Service Day, students and staff work on general cleaning and maintenance projects throughout the community.
“We looked at this as a way to give back to our community,” Corey Burton, Principle of Ellis High School said.
Burton would like the elderly to take advantage of this service day, as well as the people who physically are unable to do the work.
“It’s really about the elderly for an event like this,” he said. “Any way we can help out those who cannot do the general maintenance work.”
Burton estimated there will be approximately 160 volunteers from the EHS family, noting nearly everyone in the school participates.
The groups are divided into their seminar groups. Seminar groups at EHS consist of 12 to 14 students who can spend up to 35 minutes with teachers outside of regular class time to get help with homework. The groups include all grade levels.
“The seminar groups will go out with their teacher and perform their task, whatever that might be, return to school for lunch and then go back out,” Burton said.
Most of the work that is done is yard work, he said, which is why the service day is being held in conjunction with the Oct. 19 citywide cleanup day in Ellis.
“We wanted to hold it before the citywide clean up day to make it easier for the trash pickup and also so those residents do not have to pay for scheduled pickups,” Burton said. “Most of the work is mowing, raking leaves, picking up sticks or trimming bushes.”
In past years, groups have cleaned churches, helped clean the Good Samaritan house,and picked up trash.
“We also do general things that just do not get done such as washing windows or dusting,” Burton said.
The organizing committee met this week to discuss projects in which the staff and students will take on.
“As of now, we do not have a lot of projects on hand, but it is still early in the process,” Burton said.
EHS will be accepting project requests up to Oct. 14. Burton would like people to consider the safety of the EHS students when they request a project to be completed.
“The safety of the project is big in whether we will allow our students to do it or not,” Burton said.
Burton says such projects that require students to step on a high ladder or perform a duty near a power line are just few examples in past years in which the task could not be completed because of the safety concerns.
To schedule a project, contact Burton at EHS at 785-726-3151 or Leonard Schoenberger at 785-726-1278.