Bismarck students pick up trash

On Friday starting at 8 a.m. for about two and a half hours, members of the National Honor Society at Bismarck High School left class to pick up trash.

On Highway 32 from Old Irondale Road to Brewer Road, they traveled south for about a mile, leaving behind some 70 bags filled lining the sides. A bus trailed them the whole time.

The group consisted of 23 high school students from 10th to 12th grade, with the recently inducted members of National Honor Society.

This year, the National Honor Society sponsor and teacher Tabatha Crites used a different strategy to finish up the entire area.

“Last time we started in Bismarck and went north, but didn’t get to the end, so we tried to start at the other end this time to get all the way in,” she said.

“We try to do it every fall and spring, and there’s usually one season or other where we get rained or snowed out,” she said. Fortunately the weather was warm with just a cloudy overcast that morning.

Afterward they went to Carla’s Cafe to get a breakfast treat before class.

On Thursday, 24 students from the Valley School in Caledonia visited the Bismarck high school, which hosted a job fair for students to explore different career opportunities or even prospects of summer jobs.

During school hours, some of the students were allowed to leave class, and some teachers took their students to see the tables set up by various organizations.

These included Menards, Missouri Department of Corrections, Brockmiller Construction, Walmart, Lee Mechanical, U.S. Army recruiters, MTC Truck Driver Training, and Mineral Area College.

“We tried to give students some interests in careers that were available that they may have not even realized were there,” event organizer School Resource Officer Scott Lahay said.

Even though a lot of the careers highlighted could be done without a college degree, there was also space for other career paths.

“Lee Mechanical and Brockmiller showed the students that they have big careers for engineering and things of that nature,” Lahay said.

The event was a success, with businesses responding and students learning about what they could do for their future.

“We had some students come in to turn in applications, so that tells me that they were really motivated,” said School Counselor Mark Reeves.

The success of the new event spells out more to come for next year.

“It was a pilot program type thing, and we just wanted to see what the interest was or if students were receptive to it, so next year we’re going to expand on it and go further,” Lahay said. “Now that we’ve figured out the logistics of it, and what the students were interested in more, we’ll do another next year, and invite more businesses as well.”

“You never know how things will go with teenagers, but our kids were really excited and I was really pleased with their attitude,” Reeves added.

Josh Hale and Armando Avalos walk a mile with the National Honor Society to clean up a dirty stretch of Highway 32 north of Bismarck.

The new inductees into the National Honor Society, who are still sophomores, help older members clean up Highway 32.

Students receive information at the Bismarck job fair from several organizations.

Matthew Morey is a reporter for the Daily Journal. He can be reached at 573-518-3617, or at mmorey@dailyjournalonline.com.