Around Halloween, most people see a graveyard, stop for a couple seconds, and the quickly walk away, but senior Morgan Jones entered the graveyard with her Bible and Holy Water in hand.

Jones originally had other ideas for her senior project, but when she heard that her parish, St. Patrick, was in the process of mapping out graves and cleaning them up, she was “intrigued.” Wanting to know more about the project, Jones contacted the committee in charge.

“When I heard what they had to say, I felt like this was something that I could do and that I could contribute back to my parish that has already done so much for me,” Jones said.

Jones said that after learning more about what the project involved, she decided that not only could she “help out her parish”, but she could also “take this project and make it personal.” Jones made it clear that she “wanted this project to be more than just cleaning up plastic flowers and keeping the cemetery clean,” so she took the project to the next level.

“I wanted to pay my respects to the families buried there, so I decided to research the history to make the project more personal,” Jones said.

Jones’ project has multiple phases. In her first stage, she will work to locate all of the marked and unmarked graves. From there, she will place all of her findings on a map to show which spaces are available or unavailable.

The second step is to match up all of the graves with the church’s records to ensure that everything is accurate. She also wanted to make sure that any unmarked graves have the proper marker if there should be one.

The third phase of the project is to research the history of the graveyard and the families that are associated with it. With the research, she plans to create a presentation and a plaque for the parish.

The fourth phase is the final cleanup aspect, where she will repair and replace vandalized tombstones and clean up the trash and dead flowers in the cemetery. After finishing the initial cleanup, Jones plans to create an ongoing schedule so parish volunteers can maintain the graveyard after the project is complete.

Since the project is so extensive, Jones has a couple of goals that encourage her to keep continue. Her main goal is to give back to her community that she feels has done so much for her.

“Because this project has grown into much more than a simple career exploration, I hope to make an impact on my community with the rich history that the graves have to offer, and to be able to give back to my parish who given so much to me,” Jones said.

Jones said that she plans to “stay busy through the year with this project,” and her goal is to have it done no later than April.

Shannon Olsen is a Lifestyles Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com