June 14, 2000
Cherry Knoll sixth-graders blaze new trails
Students create new nature paths, gardens
By Justin Trapp
Herald staff writer
The two trail guides walked solidly ahead, as if they knew the trail like the back of their hands, but to the untrained hiker, this journey could prove to be just as treacherous as... well, as a walk in the woods.
The trail guides belong to Annette DeYoung, a sixth-grade teacher at Cherry Knoll Elementary, and the trails are both the resurrection of a old dream and the formation of a new one.
According to DeYoung and her students, the trail was originally conceived by Joe Kilpatrick, Cherry Knoll School's first principal, in the 1970's. The trail was kept up to some extent until, with the opening of the new East Junior High in 1992, the trail was separated from the school by a small road.
Students at Cherry Knoll had spoken about trying to fix the trail before, but this year the two sixth-grade classes decided to do something about it.
After speaking to everyone from Mr. Murray, East Junior High School's principal to area businesses, the students wrote two grants. Both DeYoung's and Mr. Ross' sixth-grade classes received $150 in grant money last fall, and construction on the trail began in April.
Additional moneys for the project came from donations and a popcorn sale.
The students designed the trail after surveying the land, and then bought the appropriate materials - flowers, wood, fencing, soil, and garden supplies.
The trail itself is comprised of many small trails, four or five gardens (to the students, it's quite debatable), approximately $400 in supplies and many hours of kid power, DeYoung noted
The trails are not done, and future sixth-grade classes will be able to work on the project, possibly expanding the trail even further, DeYoung said.
The old trail has not been forgotten - old trail pegs and a dilapidated bridge both stand as testaments of a very young Cherry Knoll Elementary, and its principal, Joe Kilpatrick. The trail has been dedicated to him.
Although the work for the trail has been done by sixth-graders, other members of the school have had a chance to tour the trails as well. In the usual honest fashion of children, the youngsters "wows" and giggles seem to denote approval for the sixth- graders' work.
Brendon Brosch, a second- grade student in Mrs. Reckeweig's class, said that his favorite part of the trail was "the hill garden. Because it's on a hill."