FORT KENT – University of Maine at Fort Kent students on Oct. 13 joined together with John Mathieu, AmeriCorps Vista community service coordinator, and Kim Borges-Therien, UMFK assistant professor of environmental studies, to make the St. John River banks a cleaner place.

Students participating in the cleanup were Nathan Johnson and Lisa Weiss of Pennsville, N.J.; Priyanak Pisharotu, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India; Joanne MacNevin, Souris, Prince Edward Island; Alaina Pethick, Niles, Mich.; Ayako Shimada, Aichi, Japan; Abbey Schettino, New Canaan, Conn.; Stacey Ann Jones, New Milford, Conn.; Melissa Penny, Halifax, Nova Scotia; Melanie Matheson, Port Morien, Nova Scotia.

The group worked from the mouth of the Fish River eastward to the area behind the Rite-Aid store in Fort Kent. The cleanup began at 9 a.m. and ended around noon. More than 20 trash bags full of garbage and hundreds of pounds of scrap metal were collected.

The cleanup was funded by the town of Fort Kent, organized by Mathieu, and sponsored by UMFK’s Earth Club.