Several Columbus Community High School students will be recognized by Governor Kim Reynolds for a volunteer project they did last year.

Teacher and head football coach Scott Symmonds was looking for volunteer opportunities for the football team and the National Honor Society, “I got a call from a school board member at the time, Paul Duncan, he is the human resource manager out at Tyson. And he said I have on my desk here, Mr. Symmonds a request from Keep Iowa Beautiful who goes and looks for small towns with homes that are in need of rehabilitation from people who are not physically or financially capable to rehabilitate their home.”

Keep Iowa Beautiful provided the materials to repaint the home of Sally Lewis, a retired teacher’s aide who resides in Cotter. Columbus student Vanessa Mena describes the condition of Lewis’ home, “Her house had like, the paint was starting to deteriorate and go down. Her husband had passed away and so Mr. Symmonds got a group of volunteers to help and repaint it.”

Though it took two weekends to remove the old paint and put on a new coat, the students enjoyed giving back to someone who worked at Roundy Elementary. Columbus High School students will receive a governor’s volunteer award on October 27 in Ottumwa.