Whitney Baumgardner paints a rail by the Blacksburg High front entrance. Student council members spent their Friday elective classes cleaning up the school for a "Wildcat Pride Day." Ledger photo by SCOTT POWELL Blacksburg High student council members gave up their fun classes Friday in favor of paint brushes and yard work around the school.

Students could be found painting the rails at the flagpole and Wildcat paws near the front door of the school. Trash was picked up behind the stadium bleachers. Raking, weed eating and pressure washing were the other chores performed by students.

Blacksburg High held a "Wildcat Pride Day" to clean up around the school. Student council members spent their elective classes, such as band, working through a list of chores suggested by faculty and parents at an Oct. 8 school improvement council meeting.

The clean up effort came as construction workers near completion on a Blacksburg High ninth grade addition. A new athletic field house and this week's homecoming festivities led the school improvement council to suggest the school take a critical look at the school grounds.

"We want our students to have a sense of responsibility and ownership in the school," Blacksburg High Assistant Principal Craig Bramlett said. "Our students really stepped up today like a pack of cats to take pride in making the school look nicer. We saw this attitude spill over into the student body."

During lunch, Bramlett said students were seen making a special effort to keep the cafeteria free from the litter that is sometimes thrown on the floor without a second thought.

Old furniture was moved to the back of the school. Students removed vines from the fence around the heating and air conditioning units behind the school.

"Our entire focus on the student council is helping our community," Blacksburg High student council advisor Tina Wright said. "We decided there was no reason to wait in line for our school to wait for maintenance when we could spend some time making the school look nice ourselves."