Tyrone Area junior Dante Bruder stuffs leaves into a bag Wednesday at Reservoir Park as freshman Athena Raihl looks on. Mirror photo by Matt Churella

TYRONE — Hundreds of Tyrone Area High School students took to the streets Wednesday morning eager to serve their community, clean for spring and have a fun time outside of class.

They took a divide and conquer approach for the annual clean-up event, high school Principal Darin Ricciotti said, noting students in grades nine through 12 were spread out in groups with their teachers doing various activities on the school grounds and throughout the community.

The students swept sidewalks downtown, raked leaves and spread mulch at Reservoir Park, cleaned tombstones at Grandview Cemetery and washed police cruisers at the Tyrone Municipal building.

There were also students working at the Park Avenue playground and the Tyrone Historic Railroad park, completing a community service graduation requirement in the process, Ricciotti said.

“It feels good to give back to the community for everything they do for us in school,” said freshman Maddie Hassenplug, who swept the sidewalk along Pennsylvania Avenue alongside fellow freshmen Nevaeh Eaken and Collin Moore.

Moore said he’s lived in Tyrone his entire life and takes pride in giving back to the community.

“Just seeing the town cleaner feels good,” Moore said of their work.

“It beats a school day,” he added.

Sophomore Wyatt Jones was spreading mulch and having fun with his friends at Reservoir Park.

“When I was younger, I used to play here and run on the slides and stuff, so I figured I’d come out and help out,” Jones said.

Chemistry teacher Mike Funicelli said there’s a lot of life lessons students can learn from community service.

“One of the state’s requirements to graduate is community service hours, so this helps with that,” he said. “But because it’s their community, they take pride in it.”

Tyrone Borough Police Chief Jessica Walk said she appreciates the school district’s work.

“They do an excellent job with cleaning the cars, and we love having them here,” Walk said, adding students also picked up garbage and painted benches. “They’re all through the community doing things today.”

Walk’s comments were echoed by Eric Desch, the borough’s highway superintendent.

Desch commended Travis Crowell, the school district’s transportation and physical plant director, for coordinating the event every year.

“It’s always nice to see the students out cleaning up the town and the community,” Desch said. “They always do a great job.”

Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.