Trailblazing Success for Parkway Elementary School

Parkway Elementary School’s Student Habitat committee is thrilled to announce the launch of Parkway’s Harmony Trail! The Parkway PTA, Junior League of Greenwich, Sam Bridge Nursery and other organizations teamed up with students, parents and teachers to construct a 650 foot trail at Parkway Elementary School.

Students, parents, and Parkway PTA along with the Junior League of Greenwich, Sam Bridge Nursery and other organizations, recently teamed up to construct a 650 foot “Harmony Trail” and wildlife habitat at Parkway Elementary School.

“We created this trail for our children and the community to enjoy and learn about the birds and plants that are so abundant in our little corner of backcountry,” said Melissa Devaney, one of the organizers and a Parkway School parent.

Parkway School Principal Patricia Allen and student Lexi Lubarsky help out at the trail blazing event.

“As a newly minted nationally certified Green Ribbon School, we hope to connect the curriculum to nature using this outdoor classroom that is rich with opportunities for discovery and learning,” Devaney said.

Harmony Trail, named after the cattle farm that was present on that land until 1958, includes a lovely variety of native plantings, a science table, and a sign for the entrance. This second phase of Parkway’s Student Habitat project was made possible due to generous donations from the Junior League of Greenwich and Sam Bridge Nursery along with the guidance of Audubon Greenwich.

Claire Haft and Melissa Devaney helping blaze the new woodland trail at Parkway School.

Parkway School is fortunate to have local support by Audubon Greenwich as they advance their outdoor class. “We have been working with Parkway School to train some of the teachers in our curriculum,” said Audubon naturalist Sean Graesser, who was helping out on trail day.

“Parkway first created a wild native pollinator garden in the front of the school and now we’re working on this back trail area where native plantings will create food and structure for migrant birds that are coming through,” Graesser said.

Parkway School students Xander Tommasino and Conor Devaney hold the Harmony Trail sign at the trail blazing event that the Student Habitat committee organized.

Wildlife habitats, such as Harmony Trail, help reconnect today’s children to the outdoors.

Harmony Trail will be an ongoing project. Supporters intend to add educational signs to the trail and hope to extend it in the future.

If you have any interest in helping please contact Melissa Devaney [email protected] or Liz Tommasino [email protected].

Helping construct the new Parkway Elementary School “Harmony Trail” are Alex La Padula, a Parkway student, and Sean Graesser, a naturalist with Audubon Greenwich.