School Comes Together to Clear a Trail

Ask any alum about what made PCD a great school while he or she was here and you'll get the same answer: the people, the relationships, the community. Ask around the campus today and the answer hasn't changed much. People love the school because they love its people. Take it from us: we here at @PCD speak with a lot of community members and the degree to which they echo the same thoughts about the power of PCD relationships is unusual for a school.

So perhaps it should have come as no surprise that 84 people would turn out for a morning of work along the nature trail behind Lund Hall. It was an event celebrating the power of the school's community to positively shape its physical campus. Those 84 participants wanted to show that they wanted to personally help the school grow. And yet, no one involved in the event really anticipated such a turnout. The event took place on a Saturday morning at 9 AM, an early time indeed for the 41 PCD Middle and Upper Schoolers who showed up on Saturday. The weather was cold and, at the outset, gray. The project was indeed work, involving lifting, removing rocks, raking, and picking up trash. Outside of the promise of coffee and cider donuts, and a couple of community service hours, there was no incentive for any individual to show up.

Click "read more" below to see the rest of the story and a whole lot more photos.

Yet, show up they did. Students, teachers, parents, and even two alumni descended on Waterman Ave. at 9 in the morning on Saturday, rakes and gloves in hand. Science Teacher Mary Frances Hanover, who heads the school's environmental efforts and the DaVinci Nature Lab, was amazed at the turnout. She noted that "in true PCD fashion, a tremendous amount of work was accomplished, with a little fun on the side and a lot of community spirit." The only thing she forgot to mention was the generous heaping of those delicious donuts!

In the end, that's what the day was about: bringing the community together for a couple hours of work to beautify the campus and make it more usable to students. Already the trail is open, meandering through the woods between the senior parking lot and Lund. Students, parents, faculty, and visitors are encouraged to check it out and enjoy a walk this fall and winter. 

The work will continue in the spring. The goal for the fall 2013 school opening is to have a full "nature's classroom" making use of the roughly ten acres of woods behind Lund and Boss Field. The next steps involve determining precisely what can happen around the vernal pond, work that should be ongoing throughout the spring. One key, as Ms. Hanover noted, will be that the community will be involved in the work of preparing and maintaining the trail network. After all, the point of building a nature trail is to bring the community together outdoors. Working on the trail last Saturday was a great first step!

See below for a whole lot more pictures.