By JUNO OGLE
Daily Press Staff
The nine members of an AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps team are wrapping up their service in Grant County this week, after assisting with a variety of projects such as cleaning up alleys, trail maintenance and staffing community events.
The team, ranging in age from 18 to 26, will depart Grant County on Saturday to spend the holidays with their families — but after that, they don’t know their next assignment.
That mystery is part of what drew at least some of the team members to the national service agency.
“We learn of our next projects only a couple days prior, and that adds a lot of adventure to the program,” said Jasper Lyon, from Washington state. “I’m totally fine with that. I like being surprised with that information.”
Grant County is the first project site for the team in the 10 months they’ll be together. They trained in Denver for three weeks in October before arriving in Santa Clara on Nov. 7, where they’ve been lodging in the classroom of the armory.
The team has divided up into smaller groups to work at different sites throughout their time here. In Silver City, they have worked on flower beds in Big Ditch Plaza, installed signs and dug water diversion trenches on Boston Hill and worked on landscaping at the historic Waterworks Building.
In Santa Clara, the team has worked on the disc golf course. In Hurley, they have helped clean up alleyways and remove elm trees, and in Bayard they have helped remodel the concession stand at the Little League field.
Four members of the team worked Thursday to help thin out sacaton grass from the community orchard near Gough…