Restoring Berea Elementary’s Nature Path
By Mary McGowan
Positioned to the northwest of the Metropolis of Greenville, South Carolina, Berea Elementary is a K5 – 5th Title I college with slightly below 500 college students. Our space lacks connectivity to Greenville’s Swamp Rabbit Path community, and our college students and their households don’t have many secure, native locations to take pleasure in out of doors recreation. Due to a $1500 Group Change Grant from America Walks, we have been in a position to undertake a undertaking that not solely supplied an amenity for our college but in addition allowed us to higher join with the encompassing neighborhood and area people. Our .4-mile nature path, operating alongside the varsity’s perimeter, had seen higher days. It was overgrown, uncared for, and in dire want of revitalization. With the assistance of our devoted neighborhood members, we have been in a position to restore this once-hidden gem right into a vibrant area for studying, recreation, and neighborhood connections.
The Berea Elementary Nature Path Historical past
The Berea Elementary nature path was initially established in 1999 by a program known as Management Greenville to advertise out of doors training centered on science, and to attach our college students with nature. Through the years, nonetheless, it had fallen into disrepair. Nature had taken over, and the 2 bridges that mark the beginning and finish of the trail had began to decay. It was time for a change, and America Walks’ beneficiant grant was the spark that was wanted to ignite this transformation.
This undertaking wouldn’t have been potential with out many volunteer hours and expertise generously shared by neighborhood teams. Native scout troops, church buildings, and college students from the highschool down the road all lent a serving to hand. Volunteers from these teams participated in a number of workdays over the course of the 2022-2023 college 12 months, clearing away litter, hacking by way of the overgrowth, and rebuilding the 2 bridges that have been central to the path’s performance and wonder. By Might of 2023, our overgrown path had a tender opening for pupil use, with a good looking new trailhead signal put in in August.
A Path for Everybody
One factor we have been cautious about with this undertaking was to keep away from pigeonholing the usage of the path to only science-based studying. Because the pandemic, we’ve discovered the worth of spending time in nature, getting contemporary air and bodily exercise, and coming collectively as a neighborhood. Subsequently, we determined to make use of open-ended path markers on the unique posts with numbers 1-20, in order that through the use of completely different lists, any trainer may adapt the path to their class’s particular wants. One listing would possibly encompass species and habitats to search for close to the put up so {that a} science class may make observations because the path was initially meant.
One other listing is likely to be stretches or workouts {that a} PE class may do whereas strolling or jogging from one put up to the subsequent. Nonetheless, one other listing may permit a category to take part in a ‘story stroll’ the place every quantity corresponds to the pages of a guide that may be learn aloud. This open-ended format permits for almost any class or small group to have the ability to use the path for instructional functions. This supplies us with a classroom with out partitions, the place college students can expertise the wonders of the pure world firsthand. Studying open air has been proven to spice up educational efficiency, promote bodily well being, and encourage environmental stewardship. Due to this undertaking, our college students now have this chance proper at their doorstep.
This Path is Simply the Starting
We’re thrilled to say that our nature path undertaking is simply starting, and can proceed to develop and develop extra makes use of and artistic purposes. Due to the funding already made within the path, we acquired further grant funding from an area credit score union to put in bench seating alongside the path. We have been additionally lucky to have the Berea Elementary nature path adopted by a bunch of native grasp gardeners. Their experience and dedication will permit us to proceed improving the path and the encompassing inexperienced area by planting native and helpful species to boost the wonder and biodiversity of species alongside the path. This collaboration will present ongoing upkeep to make sure that the path stays a good looking and vibrant area for our college students and the neighborhood for years to come back.
The $1500 Group Change Grant from America Walks has remodeled Berea Elementary and our area people in ways in which lengthen far past the bodily restoration of a nature path. It has introduced individuals collectively, created a supply of neighborhood satisfaction, and supplied our college students with a novel studying expertise. The undertaking reminds us that after we work collectively, we will accomplish one thing actually constructive for our neighborhood, and it’s a testomony to the facility of collaboration, dedication, and perception within the potential of our shared areas. The Berea Elementary nature path, as soon as forgotten and overgrown, now thrives as a logo of what we will obtain after we come along with a typical goal.