HOT SPRINGS - In celebration of Earth Day, which started in 1970, the students of Hot Springs School tackled a very big project in their own community to help the environment, venturing out into the streets and alleyways of Hot Springs to clean up any detritus.

Just shortly before 1:00pm, the students and teachers amassed in the multipurpose room to go over how they were going to tackle the day’s challenge. Precautions were reviewed in a slide show. The do’s and don’ts were made clear to ensure the safety of every student.

The plan was to mix the high schoolers with the elementary school students, and have the two groups work together as they searched for trash.

Principal Chris Claimont said, “This is the actually the first year since I’ve been here, in the last 10 years, that we have done this. He then said that he heard that the school did it in the past, and he liked the idea and thought it would be something great for the community.

When the teachers organized their groups, passed out latex gloves and plenty of large contractor bags, everyone hurried out into the streets to find a piece of trash. Some groups ventured up into the neighborhoods, while others went into the business district.

For safety, glass, cigarette butts and any other waste considered to be harmful were left untouched. The teachers kept a keen eye to make sure that these items were left alone.

One large goal of the students was to try and find a dollar or change left on the ground. To many people’s surprise, a couple of students found a little bit of payment on the ground for their efforts to help the earth. Jane Rosler found a dollar and exclaimed, “I found a dollar, I found a dollar!”

Some students even tackled some difficult challenges to find trash in the town’s waterways, scampering along concrete overpasses or along stream banks. Bags and cans were found among the rocks. Quickly the contractor bags filled up and were left along the road to be picked up later.

The time that was allotted for the cleanup was between 1:00pm to 3:00pm, but the students worked at such a fast pace that in an hour the town’s streets had been cleared and bags had been filled and put in the back of pickup trucks.

As the students, teachers and faculty reconvened outside the school, a special treat was being prepared inside the school: brownies and cookies for the students and everybody that helped make Hot Springs and the environment cleaner.

As quickly as the students prowled the streets for trash, the trays of brownies and cookies were cleaned off and the students went back to their respective classrooms for the remaining hour left in the school day.

Principal Claimont was very pleased with how the day’s mass cleanup transpired. He said, “The kids really pitched in and helped and the teachers did a really great job with it.” Principal Claimont then explained how grateful he was towards the Hot Springs Community Awareness Group, all the teachers, students, and everybody that was involved.