Each year the iconic white M on the hillside overlooking Mullan gets updated to help maintain its appearance and enhance the ability of visitors to see it as they drive into or by the historic little town.

What people may not know is that cleaning up and refreshing the M has become a scholastic rite of passage for students at Mullan Jr./Sr. High School.

For MHS principal and Mullan mayor Don Kotschevar, last week was his 30th anniversary of updating the M and he doesn’t think he has ever had a better group to do it with.

“It was probably the best group of kids I have ever taken up there,” Kotschevar said. “They pulled weeds, aligned rocks, and packed 30-35 pound bags of Lime (up the hill).No complaining and no whining, just a bunch of hard workers.”

Each year, Kotschevar rallies the school district’s physical education teacher to enlist the students.

Current Mullan P.E. teacher Stetson Spooner has been a very handy addition to the school according to Kotschevar.

“Spooner has been a great pack mule since he arrived in Mullan,” Kotschevar said.

Spooner has a slightly different take on the yearly project, but he couldn’t be more proud of the hard work that his kids displayed.

“It was awesome. Our students are by far the best around,” Spooner said. “They were absolute stallions up on that hill. We had girls hauling 35 pound bags of lime across that bad boy and some boys rocking (slang for carrying) two at once. It was a total team effort and the kids totally took pride in our little slice of heaven up here in Mullan.”

Each year the project gets done, but not always the same time from year to year as the North Idaho weather has a tendency to keep the local schools on their toes in the fall and spring-time.

“It varies,” Kotschevar said, “sometimes we do it as a homecoming activity and sometimes in May.”

No matter when it gets done, people look forward to seeing that big glowing M when they head into Mullan.