What the 'L' is happening on the Hill?

A group of seniors at Lewiston High School wants to transform the Lewiston "L" from a pile of painted rocks to a permanent structure.

Students in the senior leadership class hope community members will contribute toward the approximately $6,000 needed to pay for roofing tin, 2-by-4 lumber and metal posts to construct the new and improved letter.

As the white-painted rocks that make up the current L become scattered, the monogram loses its crispness, said Associated Student Body President Logan Chase. A solid L built from wood and metal won't suffer from the erosion that has plagued it in the past.

"It'll never fade," Chase said. "Right now, it's really faded. This is going to be so much more sharp."

Led by teacher Jim Silvestri, the class is made up of ASB officers, class officers and students with various appointed roles. As a public relations representative, Molly Petersen, 17, is helping publicize fundraising efforts.

Nearly $1,000 has been raised on gofundme.com, a crowd-funding website, Petersen said, and students are drafting letters to area businesses requesting donations of money and supplies.

Marketing teacher Davey Steele introduced the idea of the improved L, Petersen said, and students in construction teacher Stuart Johnson's senior class will build it.

With dimensions of 120 feet by 60 feet at its widest, the new L will be slightly smaller than the current 140-foot-by-75-foot version. But it's expected to show up more clearly on the hillside overlooking the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley.

"It's going to be extremely bright," Johnson said. "It's going to stick out like the L should."

The students hope future senior classes will pursue lighting the L, possibly with solar panels.

Lewiston School District Superintendent and former Lewiston High School Principal Bob Donaldson told the Tribune last year that the "liming of the L" has been a tradition for at least 20 years. Students from the senior class restore the L with white paint, not lime, during the annual event, inspired by students as far back as the early 1900s who emblazoned their graduation year on the hill with lime.

With students trekking across the hillside to freshen it less often and no more paint involved, the new version will be better for the environment, said senior leadership student Jesse Watson, 18.

Some students have criticized the project, Chase said, arguing the money would be better spent going toward a new high school. But the amount of money the seniors hope to raise, he said, wouldn't make a dent in the cost of school construction.

"This is something we can actually do," Chase said.

The leadership and construction classes have both worked on problem-solving for the project, Johnson said. Elements of the design have evolved as the students evaluate what will be affordable, attractive and able to withstand weather and cows.

The landowner OK'd the change, Chase explained, as long as the student designers take into account the cattle that share the hillside with the L. Plans call for raising the structure about a foot off the ground and enclosing it with wire strung between metal T-posts that will stick up even higher all the way around.

Hauling the materials to the site will be a project in itself. The construction students will build the L in sections, which Johnson plans to haul up the Old Spiral Highway in his pickup truck and trailer. The site sits about 100 yards from the road, on steep terrain.

"It's gonna be a lot of hard work," Watson said of getting the sections to their spot on the hill.

Remnants remain from a few hijinks related to the L from over the years, Johnson said, such as red paint on some of the rocks. Red is one of the school colors at Clarkston High School, whose "C" is visible on the hill just east of Lewiston.

But the improved L isn't about showing up Clarkston, Watson said.

"It's not for a competitive reason," he said. "This is our legacy for the community."

Petersen recalled a quote shared by Assistant Superintendent Lance Hansen when he spoke to their class recently.

"Everyone should plant a tree that you won't get to sit under," Petersen said Hansen told them.

She's excited, she said, for future Lewiston High School students to inherit a better, brighter L.

Donations to the Lewiston High School senior leadership class L project can be made on the gofundme website at www.gofundme.com/nth5kj9g.

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Stone may be contacted at mstone@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2244. Follow her on Twitter @MarysSchoolNews.