AUBURN – Before Edward Little High School’s Class of 2008 has even graduated, it left its school a gift: new red stairs.

On Sunday, about 30 seniors, with help from some parents, spent eight hours breaking down the old double flight of stairs that led from the parking lot to the side entrance.

On Monday, they spent another eight hours rebuilding. Initially students planned just to replace planks covering the stairs. “But when we ripped everything up, we saw how much it had rotted,” said senior Nathan Titus, one of the project leaders. Volunteers had to replace just about all of the stairs, including the frame.

The project cost seniors about $1,300 for pressure-treated lumber. “Hammond Lumber gave us a good deal,” Titus said. The class raised the money.

Titus said he and senior Kelly Bernier talked last year about how replacing the stairs would be a good class gift. “We followed through,” he said Tuesday. Helping students were several parents, including Bernier’s father, Bob Bernier, an experienced builder, Titus said.

The students decided on repairing the stairs because they were in bad shape, he said. And the project gave seniors a chance to pull a prank on underclassmen, an EL tradition.

When underclassmen arrived at school Monday, there were no stairs. Only the frame. “There was nothing to stand on,” Titus said. That made it tough to hike up the hill. Seniors enjoyed watching the scene of underclassmen climbing up the hill.

But by Monday afternoon they were at work rebuilding.

“They wanted a prank with a purpose,” Assistant Principal Robert Bennett said. Some classes leave the school a gift years after they graduate, not the same week, Bennett said. “This is pretty unusual. They’re leaving a nice memory of the Class of ’08.”

Titus plans to study music this fall at the University of Southern Maine.

Bernier plans to study nursing at Husson College.

An expected 244 seniors of Edward Little and Franklin will graduate at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.