All 74 members of the Saint Louis intermediate football team recently completed a Storm Drain Stenciling Program.

The players stenciled more than 200 storm drains in the Kaimuki and Kapahulu areas to help educate the public on the dangers of pollutants entering streams, channels and oceans from storm drains.

"The signs that we painted onto the crosswalk were just to tell people in the community that the sewer is not a place to dump hazardous items because that water ends up in the ocean and hurts the aina," captain J.T. Los Banos, an eighth-grader, wrote.

Los Banos also wrote that "even though the project was meant for the entire team to help the community it was also a way to help us bond and learn a lot about each other."

The service-learning program is a partnership among the City and County of Honolulu, Interscholastic League of Honolulu athletic directors, some O'ahu Interscholastic Association schools, local Lions Clubs and Salem Media.

About 30 schools and community groups are participating, including 11 schools from the ILH and 17 from the OIA.

The overall goal was to stencil 3,000 storm drains during a one month period, from Aug. 10 to Sept. 9.