Melinda Tuhus Photo
Park work — including collecting sand, shoveling mulch and picking up trash — was not high on these teens’ list of desirable jobs when they were assigned through Youth@Work to the Friends of East Rock Park (FERP). In the end the work provided valuable experience, and muscles.
The three — (left to right in photo) Naomi Carroll, Andrew Moore and Nattily Singleton — joined four other teens to spend 25 hours a week for the past five weeks doing those tasks and more. FERP held a picnic in their honor Friday evening in College Woods.
The teens gave tours of some of their nearby accomplishments, like beautifying the park entrance at the corner of Orange and Cold Spring streets, planting a tree and surrounding flowers to honor long-time park advocate, the late Tom Holahan, or spreading uncounted wheelbarrows of mulch under the swings so short-legged children wouldn’t have to jump to reach them, as they used to when many little feet had worn ruts below the swings. Youth@Worker Alexia Velasquez demonstrated the kind of leap that used to be required.
Carroll, Moore and Singleton said they’d all worked with children in their summer jobs last year. Asked to compare the two, Singleton said, “[This] was OK but not being used to mulching and hiking and planting, and all the bugs…” Her voice trailed off. But then she added, “It was actually easier than working with kids.”
Carroll was more positive, saying the experience has allowed her to help her dad in their yard. Moore said enjoyed meeting new people and getting to know the park.
Many of the teens had been to just the playground or the nearby ranger station, but this summer they got to explore — and beautify — trails along the Mill River and those leading to the Summit; Rice Field and even the “back side” of the park abutting Hamden. They said they were tickled when joggers would run through and thank them for their efforts.
And parents thanked them for putting the sand back where it belonged in the playground, making it easier to push strollers around the periphery.
The park did indeed look spiffy Friday, so a discarded plastic bottle near the swings looked more out of place than in the past. Velasquez picked it up with a faux tear in her eye. Asked if she litters, she said she used to. “But now that I know how it affects the people around me and how much they love the park, they don’t deserve for it to be littered.”
Aly Heimer (pictured roasting ears of corn for the picnic) grew up across the street from the park, and supervised the teens this summer. She praised their budding work ethic. “They were really good kids; when I asked them to do something, they did it.” She noted, “Some of them had limited experience in the outdoors.” Hence their emphasis on bugs.
Velasquez said she’d like to be assigned to the park next summer “without question.” The other three appreciated the chance to learn new skills and meet new people, but tended, for those very reasons, to want a new assignment next year. Carroll and Singleton will be juniors, the former at Amistad and the latter at Hillhouse, and Moore will be a sophomore at Sound. Velasquez will be heading to her freshman year at Wilbur Cross. She’s one of the youngest in the program, which serves teens 14 to 19, providing valuable work experience, and, as one of the girls noted, “There’s money at the end.”