Sewickley Academy Students Spruce Up Local Parks for Earth Day

On a patch of land alongside a nearby trail, four Sewickley students dug holes and planted phlox, a perennial lavender-blue flower.

“Last one,” said Declan Hickton, who found help packing dirt from his classmate Emily Ward.

The four sixth-graders were among 30 students who helped to plant, mulch and weed Thursday at Mary Roberts Rinehart Park in .

Susan Sour, head of middle school, said the work was, “all part of the community service we try to do each year.”

In all, 62 academy students and their teachers from the sixth-grade class spent the morning observing Earth Day at three different locations in the community – Rinehart Park, Nature Center and Sewickley Heights .

Earth Day is observed today, April 22, and April 17 to 23 is Earth Week in 2011.

Freddy Moreno, a math teacher, observed his students working at Reinhart Park. Moreno said the students viewed the service as more field trip than manual labor.

But the help was much appreciated, particularly at Reinhart Park, where park leaders said the four-acre grounds next to Osborne have been a work in progress for roughly the past four years.

Natasha Green, member of the Osborne Trail and Park Association, said the park was once part of Rinehart’s estate and is named for Rinehart, a noted 19th century mystery writer who lived in her Sewickley estate from 1911-1922. The park previously sat untouched for years, becoming an overgrown gorge with garbage strewn about.

“It was a wreck,” Green said.

Today, the park showcases a nice loop of trails and native plant species to Western Pennsylvania.

Ron Stewart directed sixth-graders to weed out loads of garlic mustard, a plant that he said “chokes out” the native plants.

“These kids are pulling out the invasive plants,” said Stewart, a park landscaping committee member.

Work at the park is largely done from volunteer labor.

Green said all the volunteers helping Thursday and throughout the years were greatly appreciated.

“For very little money and a lot of volunteer help, we have done this,” she said.