Butler leadership group strolls down service trail
FRANKLIN TWP — About 15 adults walked a kiddie trail Friday afternoon to see what they, a group dedicated to improving their community, could accomplish.
Members of the Leadership Butler County Class of 2020-2021, a program by the Butler County Chamber of Commerce, participated in Education Day on Friday, when they walked the 0.25-mile trail at Early Learning Connections on Rieger Road.
The Leadership Butler County Class of 2016 built the trail, said Amy Pignatore, who was a member of that class and is now on the board of Leadership Butler County.
Pignatore also walked the trail, and regaled the current Leadership class with the hard work and sweat equity the 2016 class put in as they worked each weekend for 3.5 months to install the $40,000 trail in the woods outside Early Learning Connections.
“We just plowed through it,” Pignatore recalled. “We kept saying, 'It's for the kids. It's for the kids.'”
The tiny limestone for the trail and heavy equipment services were donated, Pignatore said, and all of the wood and other materials were greatly discounted by local lumber and home improvement stores.
Kimmy Hillebrand, quality assurance and health director at Early Learning Connections, said children in Head Start and the other programs offered by her employer use the trail every day as long as the weather allows.
As she led the Leadership Butler County class down the scenic trail, she stopped to point out the three cedar kiosks used for investigational learning on subjects such as animals, bugs and flora and fauna found along the trail.
Each kiosk is accompanied by a “learning tree,” which is a wooden box with a door children can open to access educational materials.A pathway that veers off the trail leads to an outdoor classroom with tiny benches, resource books and a chime that a member of the Leadership class tried out.A bat house, bird learning center, outdoor kitchen area and play area with wooden climbing features are other features along the enchanting trail.“So much of it is to spark the imagination, commune with nature and bring the outdoors in and the indoors out,” said Elisa Spadafora, CEO at Early Learning Connections.Amy Franz, director of United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania's Butler Region, is a member of the Leadership Butler County Class of 2020-2021.She marveled at the educational — yet fun — features included in the trail at Early Learning Connections.“It's a great resource,” Franz said. “It gets kids out in nature, and everything's been right-sized for them.”She said the class spent the morning on Education Day talking with several school district superintendents plus the presidents of Slippery Rock University and Butler County Community College.“So ending here, this is all about getting our kids ready to go to more traditional public education and post-secondary education,” Franz said.She glanced back at the entrance to the trail as she considered what she had seen.“It truly shows that learning can happen anywhere, not just in a classroom,” Franz said.Jordan Grady, executive director of the Butler County Chamber of Commerce, said each year's Leadership Butler County class chooses a community project to raise funds for and complete.The current class will install a handicapped-accessible kayak ramp at Moraine State Park, Grady said.
