POCATELLO — An estimated 1,100 Pocatello High School students participated in their sixth annual day of service on Wednesday.

Kellie Maughan, student government adviser Pocatello High, said the day of service is a day where students are sent to different places throughout the community to do various service projects.

“We send students throughout the community to do a variety of service opportunities,” she said. “They leave at 8:30 a.m. and come back at 12:30 p.m. for an all-school lunch.”

The day of service started nine years ago when the student government was thinking of ways to give back to the community, Maughan said. They have held it most years except during the pandemic and one year due to weather.

“Our community supports us, donates to us and cheers for us,” she said. “The best way we can give back to the community is to do service to those in need.”

Students participated in service projects such as helping the Forest Service plant more trees, cleaning up the animal shelter and zoo and distributing carbon monoxide detectors to people who needed them.

“We helped the First Baptist Church with their food drive and cleaned up trash near Bannock Highway,” she said. “We had a whole variety of activities.”

Maughan’s favorite part about the day of service is watching the students serve other people and seeing the reactions of the people they help.

“Every year, we have cool stories about someone who was so grateful for the work we do,” she said. “People underestimate what a high school kid is capable of. These kids are out here doing wonderful things.”

Maughan said one group of students was picking up trash when a local man came out and asked what they were doing. After explaining, the man asked them for help cleaning his yard.

“They ended up talking to him and working with him for about an hour to get his yard in shape,” she said. “He was so appreciative.”

Lisa Delonas, principal of Pocatello High School, said she was happy to watch her students helping people throughout the community.

“It truly is a day of joy,” she said. “The kids come with a little trepidation, but then they just have the best time.”

Delonas said her favorite part of the day of service was listening to the students talk about their experiences of what they’d worked on and the kind of people they’d encountered.

“My favorite part is all the kids telling me their favorite parts,” she said. “They all had cool stories about unexpected things they encountered. They were proud of what they’d done.”

Delonas said the school is happy to have the chance to give back to the community. They are proud of what they were able to accomplish.

“We do this because our community supports our school tremendously,” she said. “This is our way of giving back. We got a lot accomplished in that day of service.”

Maughan expressed gratitude to Idaho Central Credit Union for donating T-shirts to all the students who participated, Lowe’s and Home Depot for donating all of the gardening equipment and Costco for donating water.