Teachers tend to notice when substantial numbers of students fail to report to school.
On the morning of Sept. 21, 2021, Abbey Nilson started to worry about the empty desks in her sustainability class at Shaler Area High School. As it turned out, some 40 students had to be rescued after floodwaters trapped their bus.
“The flooding is really something that they can identify with and they remember,” Nilson said.
As such, many of them are eager to do what they can to help mitigate excess water flow that can cause devastation as it makes its way downstream.
This fall, environmentally minded Shaler Area students joined with their counterparts at North Hills High School to raise money toward the nonprofit conservation group Allegheny Land Trust’s purchase of 51 acres next to Ross Community Park. On the property is the highest point of the Girty’s Run Watershed, which drains six municipalities on its way to the Allegheny River.
“We are at the base of the watershed, with Millvale and Shaler, and if that land isn’t protected, we lose our protection from flooding,” Nilson said. “So it’s important to keep that space green, even though it’s not in our school district.”
Primarily through the efforts of students, elected officials and concerned members of the community, the necessary $386,562 was raised for the land trust to buy the property and permanently maintain it as green space.
Ross Commissioner Denise Rickenbrode, whose ward includes the purchased property, was instrumental in generating interest. She referenced a 2021 study by the township’s Environmental Advisory Council to address the prevention of landslides.
“This is one of their priorities, to conserve that area, to be able to protect our residents and the communities downstream,” she said.
A 2022 comprehensive recreation, park and open space plan update confirmed the desirability of land preservation.
“They did a survey of our residents, and they want more open spaces. They want trails. So now, we can expand our trails, which is very exciting, to be able to really respond to what your residents want,” Rickenbrode said. “You don’t want to have their messages fall on deaf ears.”
She expressed gratitude to Sen. Lindsey Williams, D-West View, and Rep. Emily Kinkead, D-Brighton Heights, for supporting requests for grants that brought $315,200 toward the purchase. Ross contributed $30,000 as a municipality, and $45,000 came from the community.
“Everybody was on board, and I’m incredibly grateful,” Rickenbrode acknowledged. “We have to recognize that our actions have consequences. Without realizing that, then we’re just turning a blind eye. So we have to all chip in and do what is right.”
Let’s work together
Quite a few North Hills and Shaler Area students feel the same way.
Among them is Olivia Miller, president of the North Hills High School Environmental and Sustainability Club. As a senior, she is taking an independent study with honors biology and AP environmental science teacher Laura Clark, who learned about the Ross conservation project through an Allegheny Land Trust email to the school district.
“This is all just right up Liv’s alley,” Clark said. “She’s very much into land conservation and forestry.”
She also is co-founder with sister Jill of the student-led Spitvalves brass band, which performed at a couple of benefits that generated a total of $5,371.68 toward the property purchase.
“They have a big following, and so they were able to advertise through their social media and get people out,” Clark explained. “They’ve been a driving force for this, using their name recognition. My hat’s off to them.”
During the band’s Concert to Conserve Girty’s Run Watershed in October, Shaler Area students participated by bringing plants and other items to sell.
“We had one student from North Hills and one student from Shaler work together to create some art that we put on a tote bag that we sold to raise money,” Clark said.
Her co-sponsor of the environmental and sustainability club, North Hills chemistry teacher Sam Mrozinski-Strehl, credited the students with taking initiative.
“We just kind of guided them, but the kids did so much work, and they really stepped up,” she said. “They want our communities to be aware of the effects of even something as small as this piece of land and what can happen if you end up building something on it.”
She likes the idea of students from different schools combining efforts.
“Partnering with the Shaler students was a great opportunity to bring some more awareness together in multiple communities, not just North Hills,” Mrozinski-Strehl said.
‘You can have an impact’
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Shaler’s Nilson, a graduate of the school where she teaches, agrees.
“There’s kind of a rivalry when they compete in sports, and so usually when the kids interact, it’s in a very competitive environment,” she said. “In this case, I thought it was great that they were actually working together toward a common goal and not in competition.”
Nilson and her students have worked on Allegheny Land Trust projects since 2020, when they supported the acquisition of Girty’s Woods, 155 acres of green space in Reserve adjacent to neighboring municipalities Shaler and Millvale.
“We grew native trees from seed and filled our classroom. It was like a mini forest,” Nilson recalled. “And then we had a fundraiser, where people could donate money and we then would plant a tree for them in Girty’s Woods.”
The interest continues.
“We’re still very much involved with Girty’s Woods,” Nilson said. “We’re working to improve the space next year by doing a research study about the plants in the area.”
She launched the initial sustainability class at Shaler Area for 2020-21, and it now has more than 70 students. Through a cooperative program with the University of Pittsburgh, they can earn three college credits by passing the course.
“After the first year of the class, the kids who took it said, ‘We still want to be involved in all these projects.’ So we started a sustainability club,” Nilson explained. “It gives them an opportunity to do all kinds of work in the community, and if they have ideas for projects, we can support that.”
For Clark, who started the environmental science program at North Hills, the Ross conservation project represents a key aspect of what she wants to teach her students.
“It ties in to them learning about watersheds, but it’s really big on understanding that you can do things at the grass roots at the community level,” she said. “You can have an impact.”