Despite it being April Fool’s Day, students from the Scioto County Career and Technical Center weren’t joking around when they set out to make a difference on April 1.

The students from the Community Service class partnered with the Ladies Auxiliary from American Legion 23 as part of a patriotic service project.

“It’s only fair that we do a service for those who fought and those who gave up their lives for our country,” said instructor Susan Shultz.

Donna Gee from the Ladies Auxiliary suggested that the students could help honor the memory of the veterans by doing a clean-up of the Soldier’s Circle in Greenlawn Cemetery.

And they did just that, at 9:30 in the morning the students set out to work.

Shultz and Community Service Class instructor Denise Coldiron brought student volunteers, Veronica Moniger, Brittany Pate, Kristin Crace, Nathan Bach, Roxanne Meadows, Courtney Adams, Ally Saunders, and John DeJarnette to help with the clean-up.

The student’s cleared the walkways of sticks and branches that had fallen, then they started removing the sticks from the area. They re-erected the flags and flowers next to the graves and threw away any trash surrounding the area and raked the leaves.

“My grandpa was in the Navy, I always dreamed about going into Navy myself and it feels great to help out and honor those who have fallen,” said Roxanne Meadows.

The service project will also be used as part of presentation for Skills USA.

“Skills USA is an organization for vocational schools that celebrates student’s accomplishments throughout the United States,” said Shultz. “It’s great because it helps them build confidence, they learn public speaking skills, they get to work with and meet like-minded individuals, they get to show off what they’ve accomplished and they can be celebrated for their academic accomplishments.”

The students from the Community Service class will participate in the state competition held in Columbus at the end of this month.

“It inspires the students, it gives them something to strive for, to show them that the sky is the limit, and this project is a part of that.” said Coldiron.

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Students remove debris from Solider’s Circle.

http://portsmouth-dailytimes.aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2016/04/web1_Greenlawn-Cleanup-2.jpgStudents remove debris from Solider’s Circle.

Pictured, (Left to Right) students Ally Saunders, John DeJarnette, Roxanne Meadows, Kristin Crace, Brittany Pate, Veronica Moniger, Courtney Adams and Nathan Bach.

http://portsmouth-dailytimes.aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2016/04/web1_Greenlawn-Cleanup-3.jpgPictured, (Left to Right) students Ally Saunders, John DeJarnette, Roxanne Meadows, Kristin Crace, Brittany Pate, Veronica Moniger, Courtney Adams and Nathan Bach.

Students rake leaves in the Solider’s Circle of Greenlawn Cemetery.

http://portsmouth-dailytimes.aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2016/04/web1_Greenlawn-Cleanup.jpgStudents rake leaves in the Solider’s Circle of Greenlawn Cemetery.