Job Corps celebrates Earth Day

PALMER — Global Youth Service Day and Earth Day activities continued throughout the month of April at the Alaska Job Corps Center. Activities include:

• Team recycle efforts and competitive Recycle Wars happened weekly in dorms and classrooms Energy Use Awareness charts and practices are shared April 15 was an all-center Clean-up Winter Debris derby, conducted by the dormitories April 22, all students participated in seed planting in order to provide small transplants for center and community gardens. There was a seed starter program in each classroom along with simple botany class on growing things.

• Carpentry took on a public service project along with the Rotary Club to refinish picnic tables for the community.

Carpentry is also building raised beds, behind the Salvation Army building, for the Community project “Edible Palmer.” This is a new food based community effort to provide homegrown food for anyone. There are at least a dozen gardens being established in town for this purpose.

• Water Treatment students attended a three-day training by the Environmental Protection Agency on small drinking water systems.

• Large leadership public service activity with the Alaska Heart Run, which is a huge statewide event, attracting thousands. Leader-ship students helped to build the barricades, determine routes, pre-pare flagging and added traffic delineators and a sensing station. This is a very complex project that involved great cooperation and detailed instructions

• Staff and students contributed more than 540 hours in Public Service and Earth Day activities.