When the Turning Winds Academic Institute approached Troy City Hall for volunteering opportunities for students, city clerk Sandy Johnson had the perfect project – trees.

Students planted 60 trees earlier this month at the old Troy dumpsite on a hill that overlooks the Kootenai River.

Jake Francom, school director, and Jill Francom, horticulturist, along with students Maddie Boone, Jordan Lamb, Jordan Smith, Mark Speck and Tim Grimm worked on the project.

The project began with students picking up the trees at city hall. Following a briefing by Francom, students split up into teams and worked with the horticulturist to properly plant the trees. While Jake Francom and Speck dug the holes, the rest of the students prepared the roots and trees and then planted them. Students carried jugs of water to the planting sites.

Speck said that it was “a new experience to plant trees and it was really fun to do something constructive that will help the environment.”

Following the project, students talked about how it fit into what the school identifies as “10 key virtues.”

“It felt really good to volunteer for something that I chose to do and that it was constructive at the same time,” Boone said.

Johnson said the project worked out well.

“The trees look healthy and the students were wonderful and really appreciated,” Johnson said. “They were all well-mannered, pleasant and a pleasure to work with.”

Turning Winds Academic Institute in Troy is a private therapeutic boarding school for teenagers ages 12-18.