High school students pitch in to help beautify city

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Agricultural science teacher Evan Hindman supervises FFA students Zane Smith (left) and Dalton Bailey as they refurbish a trash can on Commerce Street to a deep green. Progress photo by Faith Harper
Tara Grimes (left) and Jordan Spradlin work as a team to repaint a trash can. Progress photo by Faith Harper

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September 6, 2012

High school students pitch in to help beautify city

Faith Harper Jacksonville Daily Progress The Jacksonville Daily Progress Thu Sep 06, 2012, 08:16 AM CDT

JACKSONVILLE — Eleven Jacksonville FFA students gave up their last weekend of freedom before school started to do some good for their community.

Armed with green paint and rollers, the group started around 8 a.m. and refurbished around 12 city trash cans with a fresh coat of paint, from the Tomato Bowl down Commerce Street.

Katy Sheffield, agricultural science teacher and faculty sponsor for the FFA, said she was contacted by the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce for help and the word spread through the organization's officers for additional hands on the project.

A.J. Dearing, a junior Jacksonville FFA student, said he heard about the project while he was picking up his class schedule. Dearing said he wants attend school to be either a professional welder or an Ag teacher.

“I do as much stuff as they let me do,” he said. “Anything that I can learn is good, whether it be through a mistake or something good.”

Dearing said the group was worried about the potential rain, but was thankful for a break from standard Texas temperatures in August.

“It was pretty fun,” he said. “I got paint on and in my hair. It was either on you or the trash can.”

Sheffield said students in agricultural mechanics, metal fabrication and welding classes will be working on a semester project to help keep Jacksonville clean and beautiful. She said after some initial classroom instruction on safety and technique, students will begin making metal trashcans for the city and for the high school campus.

The receptacles will be slightly different than the ones currently on the streets in that they will be square rather than circular, but they will be painted the same deep green color.

“We want to do a good job on it so it's not something that was thrown together,” she said. “It needs to be something that is going to last so the city doesn't have to worry about keeping it up. They don't have to worry about it falling apart in a couple of years and having to be back at square one.”

The cans will be made in class and most likely installed by FFA members after school or on a weekend.

Dearing said he will gladly help with the project.

“It feels good to help the community and for us to be out there doing stuff,” he said.

Students who participated were: Tera Grimes, Brackston McKnight, Austin Essex, Jordan Spradlin, Ciana Rains, Kristen Hutson, Dalton Bailey, A.J. Dearing, Jay Moses, Zane Smith and Kolton Chamberlain. JISD teachers and sponsors were: Katy and Ross Sheffield, Evan Hindman and Rachel Robinson. The paint for the project was donated by Sherwin Williams.

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High school students pitch in to help beautify city

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