In Greensburg

Courtney Looney, left, and Courtney Crain chip mortar from stones at the old Boy Scout cabin.

One of the requirements for the Greensburg class is for students to volunteer. Most have concentrated on getting interviews and writing, so the latter part of this week has been filled with work in the community.

They’ve volunteered in different ways. One student painted signs. Another mowed vacant lots with an Oklahoma group also staying at the church. One with more talent than most of us played piano during the noon hour at the nearby senior citizen center. Some worked on a deck for a homeowner, another helped a previous story source — an 87-year-old widow— clean her house and still others spent part of today on a rock pile.

The rocks are from the old Boy Scout cabin that was destroyed in the tornado. Scout officials plan to try to use the stones again.

I offered to download the sound track from “Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou?” for the group cleaning mortar off the rocks. Someone joked that the class really started resembling prison this week.

WSU grad student Ozi Utah entertains residents of the Carriage House in Greensburg.