It is said, “the future lies in the youth of today,” and the youth of Cody are already going above and beyond, standing up and cleaning up our community.
Several honors students from Cody Middle School and Cody High School spent their Saturday outdoors on a hunting mission. Rather than look for pronghorn or mule deer, they were looking for trash.
As part of a three-hour community service project, over 20 middle and high school students participated in a roadside cleanup.
Trash was collected by the road that turns off towards the Park County Landfill, right alongside Highway 120. Greg Palmersheim, manager of the Park County Landfill, supervised the student cleanup.
“They were picking up anything that the winds caught and blew over the hill,” Palmersheim explains. “Things that would fit into a plastic trash bag.”
Students also marked large pieces of garbage that wouldn’t fit in their trash bags. Public Works employees picked these pieces up, cleaning more of the landscape.
From 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., students scoured this area – visible to anyone driving into and out of Cody – for garbage blown out of the landfill.
Seventy-six trash bags were filled during the three-hour cleanup. It was enough to fill a Public Works pickup truck to overflowing.
The persistent amount of trash along this highly visible stretch of highway is a community concern. The Park County Commissioners held a hearing on the issue and possible solutions in a March meeting.
During that meeting, Palmersheim said incidents between May and September 2020 cleaned up over 900 plastic bags at the cost of nearly $80,000.
The consensus amongst commissioners was unanimous: this is a significant issue for the county, and it needs to and will be addressed in the future.
While a three-hour cleanup isn’t a permanent solution, it’s a testament to the quality of Cody’s students.
Even after the students finished their cleanup and commitment, they were interested in doing more.
“Some of the students asked if they could come back or come back any other time. I told them. They’re more than welcome,” Palmersheim says.
Cody High School principal Jeremiah Johnston says Cody’s students always serve the community in various ways, including last weekend’s trash pickup. Seeing students out and about is a constant source of pride for the district.
“We’re always proud of kids when they get out and serve the community,” Principal Johnston says. “There are a lot of ways kids do that through their time in Cody. I’m always very proud of seeing kids out and doing service work.”
