Trailblazers School Year in Review 2016-2017
The 2016-2017 School Year proved to be Trailblazers best year to date! This being our fifth anniversary, I felt this to be a really special year for us including a few firsts and lots of unforgettable moments.
Trailblazers held a total of 10 events throughout the school year serving 237 student participants! We had our highest attended event ever this year with our Trailblazers Owl Celebration which had 100 people in attendance.
We had the return of the Trailblazers Geocaching Competition for the first time in five years! Students were required to complete their geocaching passport by finding all eight hidden geocaches throughout the trail. We had over 30 students compete by exploring the trail outside of school time with family and friends!
Five new species of birds were observed on the trail this year including Common Loon (flyover) on 4/7, Broad-winged Hawk (flyover) on 4/19, Cerulean Warbler on 5/2, Gray-cheeked Thrush on 5/17, and Yellow-throated Vireo on 5/18. Now, 120 different species of birds have been observed on the trail across 383 checklists. Since the start of 2017, 81 species have been observed on the trail.
We have had a few slight habitat improvement efforts taking place on the trail, too! GVMS Tech Ed Teacher Mr. Gray built two large bird boxes with his classes for the trail. The boxes are much larger than your standard bluebird box, and we have installed them throughout the trail to attract larger birds such as Barred Owl, Eastern Screech Owl, and Wood Duck! Thank you to Jerry Strickland and Garrick Weaver for helping with the installation of these boxes. Also, there are four active bluebird boxes posted throughout the campus to help promote nesting Eastern Bluebird habitat!
2016-2017 has been an amazing year for Trailblazers! I'd like to send a very special thank you to Mr. Piasecki, Mrs. Allen, and the BSES Nature Trail Committee for their continued support of Trailblazers!
Looking into the future, we have three weeks of Trailblazers Summer Programming:
Trailblazers Adventure - June 25th-29th - 9am-3pm, Grades 3-8
Trailblazers High Adventure - July 17th-22nd - 9am-4pm, Grades 5-10
Trailblazers Adventure - August 7th-11th - 9am-3pm, Grades 3-8
Check out our camp flyer with more information HERE!
For more information or to register, please contact quindlb@garnetvalley.org or mclaugb@garnetvalley.org
See you this summer and again in 2017-2018!
