Poland High Schoolers

POLAND HIGH-SCHOOLERS PUSH SOIL

Six Poland high-school students, under the tutelage of their ecology teacher Beth Cholish and Americorps volunteer Susan Redmond, met at the Public Beach on June 2 to first clean it, then plant bushes and flowers and, lastly, to label them. Phoebe Hardesty (AVSWCD) delivered the soil /plants and supervised the project along with Cynthia Kuhns (LWRMA), Ms. Redmond and Mrs. Cholish. Linda Laskey and Babs Shapiro were also there to lend helping hands.

The students enthusiastically dug in, raking and planting for several hours. As a follow-up, they wrote an article about the project (part English class and part ecology) and had it published in the Lewiston Sun-Journal.

BEACH WORKERS: from the left are Susan Redmond, Nick Marchesseault, Beau Taylor, Amanda Gurney, Nicole Nason, Jen Cooper, Alyson Martel, Beth Cholish, cynthia Kuhns and Linda Laskey.

Ms. Redmond, Cynthia Kuhns and Babs Shapiro had previously met with the class on May 31, giving them a brief history of TLIA, its needs and what was hoped could be accomplished with their help. Cynthia spoke briefly of lake ecology and buffering techniques, explaining what the Demonstration Project meant and how it would benefit the lake.

We rewarded these young environmentalists (as well as Mrs. Cholish and Ms. Redmond) with Tripp Lake caps and a hearty thank-you. The students were: Nicole Nason, Amanda Gurney, Jen Cooper, Beau Taylor, Nick Marchessault and Alison Martel. We were fortunate to have their assistance and hope we’ll have the opportunity to cooperatively work with them again.

As a footnote, it was important that the plants were watered. The Shapiro family spent several hours a week nurturing them until Susan Carbone picked up the ball. We thank her sincerely for her efforts in helping them thrive.

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