Students who belong to the Interact Club at Whitmore Charter Middle School joined with four members of the Ceres Rotary Club Saturday morning to pick up litter strewn along Mitchell Road from River Road to the Tuolumne River bridge.

During the two-hour cleanup, the group removed litter and debris along the west shoulder of Mitchell Road.

“It is Interact’s hope to inspire people to take pride in their home, school and town and for Ceres to present a more attractive image to the traffic entering the city from the North,” said Ceres Rotarian Dave Hosmer.

The Whitmore Charter Middle School Interact club has been doing a community project about once a month. Saturday’s cleanup project was inspired by co-adviser Lauren Moraca, who is a technology teacher at the school. Moraca would like the group to work on the east side of Mitchell Road after the first of the year but logistical challenges need to be addressed.

Interact is a Rotary Club sponsored program for middle and high schoolers ages 11-18. The four Interact clubs in Ceres are located on the campuses of Whitmore Charter Middle School, Whitmore Charter High School, Ceres High School and Central Valley High School.

Others in the community helped out, including Brian Peterson of the Ceres Police Department and Steven Whitney, a volunteer with the VIPS program, who provided traffic control to insure the group’s safety when working along the busy road. 

Rotary Club member Shane Parson of Diamond Bar Arena provided the large dumpster used to store and haul away the collected debris.

Interact clubs bring together youth, ages 12-18, to develop leadership skills while discovering the power of “Service Above Self” in keeping with the Rotary motto. Students connect with community leaders locally and around the globe to make a difference in school and community; discover new cultures and promote international understanding; become leaders in school and community; and have fun while making new friends.