This school year has been one of transition, renewal, and resurgence. WHSAD staff and students have enjoyed being back in-person, getting the opportunities that were sorely missed during remote schooling. One such opportunity is field trips, and one trip that occurred on an on-going basis was the Staten Island Greenbelt in which students worked at High Rock Park to refurbish the trails. During these Wednesday excursions, students collaborated to apply the instruction they received from High Rock environmental educators Christopher Ricker, Karen Roos, and Angel Ehlers. Filled with moments students will remember for years to come, the days provided ample occasions not only to learn about flora and fauna that were a novelty to many of our city kids but also to gather in a community that helped reignite the passion of attending school.
What follows are videos of opening remarks from various stakeholders and the students’ presentations and narratives from the presenting groups’ leaders.
Matthew Zaczeniuk, Class of 2023
We won? We won! That’s what I thought the moment the winners of the project proposals were revealed to us last Wednesday. It was an amazing feeling knowing that my group had won after all the work we dedicated to this project. Honestly, I believed that one of the other groups would win the proposal though, and many of my group members felt the same way. I think everyone did an outstanding job preparing and presenting the projects and the decision must have been tough. After the winners were revealed, Chris gave us a run down of how the project would function going forward. He explained that our group would now be leading the operation and that the adults would be there to supervise and support the project like the kids had been doing before. We were now responsible for running the project and keeping everything going smoothly. It was weird shifting from just an assistant to now leading the project, but my past experience with Mr. Codio helped me settle in just fine. It was an incredible feeling to know that our plans were going to be implemented into the trail system and that the Sparkling Unicorns, along with everyone else, were going to leave a mark on High Rock park.
The first day was interesting. My group was still learning the ropes of our new positions but we had to start leading the project. Of course, we received help from Chris, Angel, and Karen but it was up to us to lead everyone else. The day started out as normal, we all gathered together at our usual meeting spot and did tool counts, went over the project scope, and received our hard hats and other personal protective equipment. We then brought down all the tools and materials to the sites and decided who would work at each site. Our project consists of four sites that we would target at different times. The ones that we were focusing on that day were the unmarked trail and the hilltop trail. The unmarked trail needed to be closed off and revegetated because it was never supposed to exist in the first place. It was created because of a marathon that was held in High Rock Park and had been left there since then. It had been marked for closure and was included in the project scope by Ms. Karen when we took our first look at the sites we would be working on. The hilltop trail needed water management features due to water running down the trail which would erode the soil and damage the puncheon below. Our main goals for the site were to install two water bars along with a berm lower down the hill to help guide the water off the trail and prevent any more erosion. All of this had to be done while my team tried to figure out how to coordinate with 10 other kids.
Overall this was a great learning experience. Having to coordinate with my team and leading the other kids was super cool because I never had the opportunity to manage others like this before. And although it was difficult to get used to, I had confidence in the other members and I knew we could get the job done. With the knowledge and experience I gained from this High Rock trip I believe that my team and I will be able to lead the whole group to success.
Amelia Velez, Class of 2023
On Wednesday April 27th, WHSAD students who had been part of the WHSAD & High Rock project collaboration and internship presented their final project proposals to the Green Belt staff. Teams had been expected to construct different project ideas that could help benefit the park and benefit the area the groups were assigned. This could range from replacing check steps and maintaining trail safety to redirecting a train for around five feet. However, there was a catch: students would be broken up into three independent groups and would pitch their group ideas to a panel, which consisted of various influential NY Gardens supervisors, against each other/against the other groups. This additional challenge helped create a friendly competition between students and helped motivate the groups to work even harder and more efficiently.
The groups formed were the Sparkling Unicorns, the Trail Mattocks, and P-Rock. Within a week, each group and their respective mentor created a design concept for their segment of the trail. The Sparkling Unicorns created two main concepts/proposals. The first was building a puncheon (a small bridge), checksteps, and water bars. These would help support the trail as well as make it safe. The second part of the proposal was closing off an old trail as it was no longer needed and was not safe. For the second group, the Trail Mattocks, their proposal was also split into two. The first idea was to create check steps and water bars to create a safer trail and to work on relatively simple side projects such as removing intrusive roots that caused tripping hazards. Similar to the Unicorns, the Trail Mattocks’ trail also had a section that needed to be closed off as it was causing confusion for hikers. The third and final group, P-Rock came up with the plan of rerouting part of their trail as it was a hazard to hikers due to a steep slope and large amounts of invading roots/other plants. Besides rerouting the trail, they also wanted to eliminate other safety hazards by installing water bars and check steps.
Each group prioritized thinking about the safety of their assigned trail and the sustainability of the trail. They wanted to make sure the trail would last for a long time but also wanted to make sure the trail would also remain safe for those who wanted to explore and enjoy nature.