Students, staff, and volunteers from St. Francis of Assisi Catholic highschool took part in their annual highway cleanup earlier this month, collecting garbage along a stretch of Highway 88 near Slave Lake.

Originally scheduled for May 2, the cleanup was postponed to May 9.

Despite the change, turnout was strong, with 52 students and 11 adult supervisors, including staff and parent volunteers, participating in the event.

“This year’s highway cleanup turnout was amazing and a blessing,” says Alexis Mitchell, a teacher from St. Francis who organizes the clean-up. “It allowed us to be done in record time.”

The cleanup is part of a program supported by Alberta’s government and the department of highways, which allows community groups to take responsibility for sections of roadway.

St. Francis has been involved in the program since before 2016.

Each year, the school is assigned approximately 11 kilometres along Highway 88, starting at the junction with Highway 2. Students and volunteers are responsible for cleaning both sides of the highway, says Mitchell.

The department of highways provides safety vests, gloves, signage, garbage bags, and training materials, and also collects the filled bags once the work is complete.

Mitchell says the cleanup reflects the school’s values and commitment to service.

“We are a Catholic school, and it is part of our identity to be helpful and to serve our community,” she says. “It is not always fun to walk the highway cleaning up after others, but it is a great experience to do something meaningful for the environment and spend time with friends and family.”

While the total number of garbage bags collected is not tracked, participants filled multiple bags throughout the day.

Funds raised through the program help offset bussing costs for the school’s year-end field trip. Mitchell says that students also take pride in seeing the results of their work later in the summer.

“It feels great to go out to the lake and see a clean highway that our school helped look after,” she says.
The school plans to continue participating in the cleanup each year, Mitchell says.

Julia Magsombol
Lakeside Leader