ATHENS, Ala. — Several groups of Clements High School students came together earlier today taking the initiative to help residents in the Brigadoon community pick up the pieces after Wednesday's tornado. Clements High School FFA President Lexi Evans explained that this cleanup day is all about giving back to their community. "Everybody was just like, we're going to go do it. This community has given us so much because, we've started this FFA group from the very bottom up, and our community really has given us everything to have a perfect foundation. and so this is the bare minimum we could do to give back to our community."
Jackson Parman is a freshman at Clements High School and lives in this Brigadoon neighborhood. Parman recalls his experience during Wednesday night's storms. "All you hear is the sirens. So I went straight to the bathroom and to stay in there for a couple and then come outside. Everything was just tore up."
Parman said to see so many of his friends and classmates coming together to help his neighborhood pick up the pieces is a great feeling. "That's what they're supposed to do. be a good citizen and everything. They deserve it. Everything they've lost and everything. People are out of homes now."
Evans continued that no one at Clements turned this opportunity to give back down. "Teachers and everybody were just like, okay, have a great day. You know, don't get hurt. And the principal, he was like, I love this idea. So there wasn't a soul that turned it down in our school. It gives us something to look forward to, and the community realizes that, you know, they have our back and we have their back."