On Oct. 25, travelers on U.S.
Highway 30 near the east end of Columbus may have noticed an energetic crowd of high schoolers picking up litter in the ditches, but not as punishment or a required activity. Instead, they signed up for it. The students, SkillsUSA members from a number of surrounding states, took to the highway as part of their annual Mid-America Leadership Conference, held this year in Columbus.
Students came from as far as the Dakotas and Wyoming. For the past several years, SkillsUSA students have assisted Keep Columbus Beautiful during the conference, said Vanessa Oceguera, the nonprofit organization's executive director. "Every year they do different projects throughout the community and normally they kind of help me with the island cleanup (at 26th Avenue and 23rd Street)," Oceguera said.
"This year that's not really needed, but there is wind and trash everywhere so I figured we could do a very large stretch of our main traffic with this many bodies." Oceguera said it's fun to see the students find unusual things or even money, but these kids have a strong work ethic anyway. "It kind of helps promote the community a little bit more," she said.
"It's a lot of visibility for their group as well, gets them camaraderie and hopefully makes them think, 'that's a lot (of trash).'" Aaron Jones, the SkillsUSA state advisor for Nebraska, said the service activity is part of their conference because one of SkillsUSA's goals is teaching students about leadership. Stude.
