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"I can do it, coach," one of the players yelled. "I'm taking an art class!"
For Head Football Coach John Butler, it's all about giving back to the community.
On Saturday, Aug. 29, he led an army of his football players and soccer players on a full day of community service that included garbage pickup downtown, washing vans at First Baptist Church and a whole lot more.
"These are young men and it's all about teaching life lessons," Butler said. "If these kids get involved in community service and then other people get involved in community service, think about all the problems that we can help out with in the world and the impact on lives that you can make."
It's the first year the athletic department has done such a project. Butler said the idea came in part to say thanks to the community for helping support the turf construction through fundraising. He added this will be the first of many years for the project.
"We definitely want to grow with this and take it one step further next year," Butler said. "This is just a start. We hope it continues and I think the more things you do like this, the better off the community is going to be and your community is built around your school. We definitely want to give back to them."
For SCHS Junior football player Ryan Juergens, painting the Elks Lodge was a good opportunity to hang out and have fun off the field with his teammates while making a positive impact.
"It's fun doing something for the community," he said. "In practice we're always pretty serious and working hard so it's good to do something like this."
Elks Lodge member Ed McGlaughlin said that the work was a total surprise.
He said SCHS Principal Vicky Enyart called the lodge one day and offered the labor for the paint job.
"We're tickled to death that they're doing it," he said. She (Enyart) said they wanted to paint, so we said go ahead and paint it."
According to Elks member Charlie Green, the organization donates heavily to the school through contributions to athletics as well as academic scholarships.
"Just about everything they have, we donate something to," he said. "I guess this is how they want to pay us back for what we do for them."
"In this day and age when all you hear is doom and gloom, we'll be proactive," Butler said. "St. Clair is a great place to live."
