Jonesboro, AR – JonesboroRightNow.com – International Studies (IS) Magnet School EAST students are working to create a trash reporting system and digital trail maps for the Forrest L. Wood Crowley’s Ridge Nature Center.
Luke Pickens and Krewe Johnson, sixth graders in the EAST program, have been working on providing digital trail maps and a new signage system allowing people to report trash or damage along the center’s hiking trails.
Part of the project has already been implemented at the Nature Center. Paper handouts with the QR codes to check trail length and difficulty are now available at the center’s front desk, although the signage that will be along the trails themselves is still being tweaked.
Pickens has been working on the project for the last three years, and said he got the idea because he frequently hikes at the Nature Center.
“When I first started working on it, I actually hiked all the trails many times, and so I kind of knew the lay of the land and stuff, I knew where trash was and where it mostly built up at and all that stuff,” Pickens said.
After making their initial presentation to Nature Center staff, the students are now working on a Google Form that patrons can fill out to report trash or trail damage that goes directly to Nature Center maintenance staff. The form will allow hikers to specify exactly where they spot garbage or damage and even provide photos.
“They (Crowley’s Ridge Nature Center) have paper handouts like maps, but sometimes it’s kind of hard to understand a map,” Johnson said. “So, these [QR codes] I think would be much easier, because I would say around 90 to 95% of people nowadays have a phone with a camera on it, and can scan a QR code.”
The goal is to have the project completed by the end of the school year.
“Because they’re both 6th graders and they graduate, they really want to tie a bow on this one,” said Carman Owens, EAST facilitator at IS. “It’s a passion project, so they really want to get it done.”
Owens added that the project not only gets kids outside, but also teaches them about nature, graphic design, public speaking, problem-solving, and more.
EAST, a community-service-based elective course in public schools, aims to improve schools and communities through technology and service. Johnson and Pickens said they believe the project will help the community.
“Because there wasn’t a digital map before, now people have phones with cameras on them, so it should be easy to scan for them, and so they could see about where exactly they are, how long it’s gonna take, all of that good information,” Pickens said. “And then with this, it’s like, we want to keep the place clean, you know? So, with this, that’ll help with that, so that’ll probably benefit the community, just keeping all the trails clean.”