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Students worked cleaning gravestones in Richardson Cemetery, which is across from Food City. SUBMITTED PHOTO

JAY — On Monday, May 20, Spruce Mountain High School students contributed to their communities in preparation for the Memorial Day parade in Jay and Livermore Falls. Some preparation for this parade included cleaning up and tidying up the headstones at Jay Hill Cemetery and Richardson Cemetery in Livermore Falls.

Students also picked up trash, blew leaves, and raked at the following local areas: Jay Village Baseball field, Whistle-Stop trails, French Falls, Gazebo Park in Livermore Falls, Livermore Falls recreation field, as well as the AYS building and grounds.

Max Labonte, Leah Burgess and Jesse Lewis debark a tree for the Spruce Mountain Elementary School Bog-Walk, SUBMITTED PHOTO

The students helped build brand new bog walk trails leading to the Spruce Mountain Elementary School. Students also painted outdoor education buildings that had previously been in the woods behind the high school. At the town offices of Livermore Falls and Jay, students cleaned up gardens, blew leaves, raked, and cleaned the benches. Students also helped by weeding and planting tomatoes in the school’s greenhouse.

Front L to R: Salem Hughes, Faith Maurais, Brooke Pelletier Back L to R Ava Jackson, Gabby McMullen, Tegan Berry, Brooklyn Kemp, Annabelle Fee, Solomon Lovewell These students planted tomatoes in the school’s greenhouse SUBMITTED PHOTO

The students seemed to enjoy being outside helping the community on a nice warm day rather than being cooped up in classrooms.

“It felt good to be helping out the community with the things that the towns struggled with, such as keeping our town clean and put together, and it was fun, in a way to spend a few hours of my day,” said Eli Moffet, a junior at Spruce Mountain.

L to R Allison Caron, Michelle Brann, Mason Labonte, Jeremy Whittemore, Allie Farrington, and Brianna Prescott painting newly constructed outdoor classrooms. SUBMITTED PHOTO
Mrs. Ellingwoods’ Connection Group clean the Jay Village AYS Baseball field. L to R: Christopher Willson, Emma Furka, Morgan McDaniel, Chelsea Konopka, Alivia Houk, Jasyn LaGrange, Eliezelle Patoy, Malaria Richards, Scarlett Caldwell, Ethan Moore, Owen Dunn, Caleb Watts, Bradley DeMillo, Kaylen Sencabaugh. SUBMITTED PHOTO

Lily Fortier, another junior at Spruce Mountain High School, said,  “We’re very fortunate to have received a grant to build the outdoor education buildings but also to allow the kids to walk here through nature which is something many of them don’t get to experience outside of school.”

Overall, the students seemed to have enjoyed the community service day and being part of preparations for the Memorial Day parade as well as “sprucing” up the school grounds for the elementary students.