"CMaP in the News"

Polk students continue work on special project

02/28/2006
By Crystal Forester

A group of students didn't let a little mud and rain get in their way of working on a dream project.

A group of five Polk Middle School students were able to lay down the first stakes of a walking trail they designed near Furneaux Creek. Sarah Pritsker, Jonathon Russell, Nathan Schiferl, Dorathy Scrudder and Matthew Zettler were the original members of a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) club, established last school year. As their first project the group created a mile long trail that would run along the northwest area of Furneaux Creek near the Frankford and Josey intersections.

This area of trail is part of a four-mile long trail system running from Frankford to Peter's Colony, eventually linking to trails in neighboring cities. The original students, along with this year's GIS club members and members from the 4-H Science Club, placed survey stakes along the amended trial.

"We took some stakes out and actually, physically marked the trails," Schiferl said. "Then the stakes are going to be an actual physical guide for the city of Carrollton to actually place the concrete trail down."

Construction on the Furneaux Creek walking trail will begin in early summer. The mud and rain this weekend gave the group a little trouble while trying to place the stakes. "It was fun and very humorous because Mr. Scrudder fell down in the mud," Schiferl said. "It was kind of funny but kind of dirty. I was in my manual wheelchair and up and down my pants and on my jacket -- I had mud just everywhere."

Dorathy Scrudder also said the conditions were not ideal."It was really wet," she said. "We arrived up there around 8 a.m. and left around 11:30 a.m. When I got home at 3:30 p.m. I took off my shoes and socks to walk around the house and my toes were all pruned cause we walked through puddles at least [six inches] deep because it had rain the entire night."

These students used a map and photos of the area to develop the first blueprints for their walking trail. They presented their ideas to the Carrollton City Council and city staff who then tweaked them and made it possible for the trail to begin.

"It's amazing. When we started we had no clue it was going to get this far," Scrudder, an eighth grader, said. "It's just wow." The original plans called for six entry points, a parking area, bridges, restrooms, phones and benches. Handicapped accessible playgrounds were also part of the first plan.

Currently the city only has the funding to lay down the trails. The GIS club, which has now tripled in size, has taken it upon themselves to find funding for the rest of the project. The club has joined forces with the new 4-H Science Club, which plans to create a natural wildlife habitat and a learning center in one section of the trail. The Carrollton-Farmer's Branch Educational Foundation is also helping the students with their dreams. A $1,000 grant was awarded to the GIS club to further training and purchase additional tools.

Not only are the students and the club being recognized by the city and community there is a good chance they will be honored on a national level as well.

The students are one of three schools being considered as the show-cased school at the International ESRI Conference in San Diego in August. If chosen the group would present their plans to 10,000 to 15,000 people. ESRI is the world's leading Geographic Information Software developer and provided the school with the ArcView GIS Software that helped develop the original walking trail.

To read the original article, visit Carrollton Leader.
To view the student website, visit Polk GIS Club online.