Berkeley Leader

Berkeley County Middle College High School issued the following announcement on November 30.

It may be hard to make a nature trail in a swamp, but Cross High students have put a lot of effort into creating such a trail for their school.

These students are part of the school’s wildlife conservation and agriculture science classes – both of which consist of 10th through 12th-graders – and every so often they head out to the wooded area behind the school’s baseball field to work on the trail, which is nearing completion.

Students started working on the trail back in October and anticipate being done by the end of the semester. They typically head out into the woods with pickaxes, rakes and tree trimming tools to help create the path.

On Nov. 17, while 10th-graders were testing inside the school, the upperclassmen from the agriculture program headed outside to rake leaves, create brush piles and fill in holes on the trail so nobody steps in them.

Students also worked on a “shortcut” trail in the middle of the woods, and marked trees to help make sure future walkers stay on the trail. The nature trail zigzags through the woods but it measures close to a mile long.

A general consensus from the students is they have enjoyed creating the nature trail, particularly because it has given them a chance to get outside.

Eleventh-grader Nilah Rogers was among the students who recently helped rake the trail. Rogers said being outside allowed them to learn more about some nature topics they have already talked about in class, like the wildlife and native plant species; a future goal is to post signage out along the trail to help point out different plants and trees to walkers.

“It’s really good to be outside and just doing other stuff other than being in the classroom,” she said.

Eleventh-grader Antwan Mack led the group in creating brush piles toward the start of the nature trail on Nov 17. He said he hopes other students at school will utilize the trail and appreciate the hard work the two classes put into it – “because this took a lot of work.”

Mack said the trail looks very different now compared to when the students got started; in addition to raking the trails, several small trees were removed as well.

“It didn’t even look like this – we were still cutting trees down and stuff,” Mack said. “So I hope they (other students) like it because we put a lot of effort into this.”

Eleventh-grader Andrew Keene kept busy cutting old roots out of the ground to prevent passersby from tripping. He said he hopes fellow classmates will experience how peaceful it is on the trail.

“It’s nice and quiet out here, and nobody’s around,” he said. “Everybody keeps quiet.” 

Original source can be found here.