Lemon freshness wafted down the hall at the Highland Center Tuesday following college students armed with sponges, paper towels and cleanser.
The students had traveled from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn., as part of a Spring Break service trip with the group Students Today Leaders Forever. They will stop in five different cities on a “mystery tour” doing a service project in each one before joining with several other schools in a soon-to-be disclosed big city.
“We hope it will be a beneficial Spring Break and something that will change them,” said group co-leader Natalie Dimke. “When we go home, I hope everyone is so appreciative of what we have.”
For the last several years, groups have stopped at Volunteers of America of North Louisiana, where they raved about the hospitality. This year they went to work in the LightHouse at the Highland Center.
The LightHouse rooms received a much needed scrubbing. Students also helped put together some very tedious grammar activities for the after-school program – something that would have taken staff days to accomplish on their own.
“We hope we can answer some prayers,” said co-leader Kelsie Sargent, a junior. “They might have been longing for someone to do this, and this is what we’re here to do – to help serve.”