PLAINS - Students from Plains were on a beautification mission on Thursday, combing the edges of Highway 200 and other streets around the school and Clark Fork Valley Hospital.

About 20 kids with garbage bags and rubber gloves picked up trash in a new effort to improve the scenery in and around Plains. Supervised by Elementary Principal Jim Holland and School Counselor Molly Tingley students undertook the daunting task of cleaning up after the rest of us.

Items improperly discarded by the side of the road such as bottles, cans and unidentifiable debris were collected for disposal by a group of kids unfazed by the unpleasant nature of the job. The occasional, “ewwww” or “gross what’s that?” could be heard but for the most part the effort was conducted with little reaction to the smelly and unfortunate job.

While Holland kept a watchful eye on the road, bags of refuse began to fill up with trash. The effort took around an hour or so and covered about of mile of road for each team. Dressed in reflective gear and wearing rubber gloves to protect them from the trash, students meticulously gathered garbage that would otherwise continue to blight the Plains landscape.

Tingley said this was the first effort of its kind and was a way for students to give back to the community. Tingley also said they would attempt to follow up with further efforts on behalf of the community environment.