If you clean it, change will come.
That’s the hope of Herkimer Jr./Sr. High School students in the 2023-24 civics capstone class and the landscape design class who cleaned up litter on Thursday, Nov. 2, at Harmon Park. The students and their teachers plan for the clean-up to be the first step toward a full revitalization of the park.
Herkimer senior Nick Lamanna, who is in the civics class, said cleaning up the trash could motivate others to keep the park in good shape and get involved with improving it.
“If you make it nice a little bit – show that people are trying to change it – more people are going to back you up,” Lamanna said.
Herkimer Central School District recently acquired Harmon Park and the nearby athletic fields in a “land swap” with the village of Herkimer. The civics capstone class has chosen renovation of the park as its 2023-24 project and is partnering with the landscape design class.
Under the guidance of social studies teachers Laura Scalise and Caroline Lampert, Herkimer is leading the way among Mohawk Valley schools in embracing New York state’s civic readiness initiative. The goal is to develop students’ awareness of, enthusiasm for and practical skill-building needed to affect civic change. Last year, three Herkimer students earned their Seal of Civic Literacy on their diploma.
This year’s civics class includes Lamanna and two other seniors: Kyle Carney and James Hess.
“The civics class envisions this park to be used as an outdoor learning space with the potential for flexible seating, a community garden, a Little Free Library and refurbished athletic courts,” Lampert said.
The civics students have been gathering information, surveying staff about their ideas for how to use the park and collaborating with agriculture teacher Talia Baker’s landscape design class with a goal of presenting potential plans for the park to the Herkimer Board of Education in December, Lampert said.
While those efforts continue, the students wanted to make an immediate impact on the park by beginning the clean-up, Lampert said. The students collected more than six bags of trash and recyclables.
If any community members or organizations would like more information on the civics students’ project or would be interested in collaborating with the students or contributing to their project in some way, they’re invited to contact Lampert at clampert@herkimercsd.org.
Lamanna said not many schools have an outdoor learning area like Harmon Park could become for Herkimer Central School District.
“I think it will be great for the school and community to have,” he said.
Carney shared similar sentiments as his classmate about seeing the clean-up efforts as a motivating factor for others.
“Our goal is: If it looks nice, people won’t trash it,” Carney said. “We want it to be something good for the community and school. This is just one effort to help.”
Hess agreed as well.
“We’re just trying to make the place a little nicer in an effort to revitalize the park,” Hess said.
Hess noted that the buckets filled up with garbage quickly as several students spent part of an afternoon helping out at the park.
“We’re just cleaning what we can, and hopefully people will keep it clean,” he said.
Baker said the hope for her landscape design students is that they will get some real-world design experience in a way that hopefully will also have a real impact.
Each landscape design student will be developing a plan with suggestions for an updated design of the park – with ideas such as adding shrubs, other greenery and benches. Students will create physical drawings and digital representations of their plans and then pitch their ideas to the class. The class will pick two plans to advance to present to the Herkimer Board of Education, Baker said.
“We want to make it a nice, welcoming space,” Baker said.
There also is talk of involving other classes such as art – to add artwork along the park fences, Baker said.
“We want to try to get as many people involved as we can, so it really feels like a community space,” she said.
Landscape design students John Filipczuk III, a sophomore, and Hailey Gerhardt, a freshman, were among the students cleaning up litter on Thursday, Nov. 2, and spoke together about their goals for the park.
“I think it’s a great thing,” Filipczuk III said.
“I think it’s a great thing to fix it up,” Gerhardt added.
“To get it fixed up and make it a place for everybody,” Filipczuk III continued. “And hopefully it will stay that way for a long time.”
From left: Herkimer Jr./Sr. High School freshman Hailey Gerhardt and sophomore John Filipczuk III, both of the landscape design class, walk with senior Kyle Carney, of the civics capstone class, as they and other students cleaned up litter on Thursday, Nov. 2, at Harmon Park in Herkimer.
From left: Herkimer Jr./Sr. High School senior Kyle Carney, agriculture teacher Talia Baker, senior Nick Lamanna, social studies and civics teacher Caroline Lampert and senior James Hess work on cleaning up litter on Thursday, Nov. 2, at Harmon Park in Herkimer. Lampert’s civics capstone class is working with Baker’s landscape design class on the project.
Herkimer Jr./Sr. High School senior Nick Lamanna, of the civics capstone class, cleans up litter on Thursday, Nov. 2, at Harmon Park in Herkimer.
Herkimer Jr./Sr. High School senior Kyle Carney, of the civics capstone class, cleans up litter on Thursday, Nov. 2, at Harmon Park in Herkimer.
Herkimer Jr./Sr. High School senior James Hess, of the civics capstone class, cleans up litter on Thursday, Nov. 2, at Harmon Park in Herkimer.
From left: Herkimer Jr./Sr. High School sophomore John Filipczuk III and freshman Hailey Gerhardt clean up litter on Thursday, Nov. 2, at Harmon Park in Herkimer.
From left: Herkimer Jr./Sr. High School senior James Hess, of the civics capstone class, and social studies and civics capstone class teacher Caroline Lampert clean up litter on Thursday, Nov. 2, at Harmon Park in Herkimer.
Herkimer Jr./Sr. High School senior Nick Lamanna, of the civics capstone class, cleans up litter on Thursday, Nov. 2, at Harmon Park in Herkimer.
Herkimer Jr./Sr. High School senior Kyle Carney, of the civics capstone class, cleans up litter on Thursday, Nov. 2, at Harmon Park in Herkimer.
Herkimer Jr./Sr. High School senior James Hess, of the civics capstone class, cleans up litter on Thursday, Nov. 2, at Harmon Park in Herkimer.
From left: Herkimer Jr./Sr. High School freshman Hailey Gerhardt and sophomore John Filipczuk III clean up litter on Thursday, Nov. 2, at Harmon Park in Herkimer.