BETHEL — Melissa Prescott, visual art teacher for Telstar Middle School, went on a guided hike at Buck’s Ledge last year and wondered how she might get her students involved in the preservation effort.

The Buck’s Ledge project is a proposed community forest that encompasses 634 acres, including both Buck’s and Lapham ledges, the summit of Moody Mountain, as well as six miles of hiking trails with views overlooking local ponds and the Presidential Range in New Hampshire. A new connecting trail from Woodstock Elementary School allows students to make use of the forest as an outdoor classroom.

The Woodstock Conservation Commission has made efforts to preserve the area since 2008, but a new effort is being coordinated with Mahoosuc Land Trust.

“I enjoy service learning projects,” said Prescott, “and when we learned the goals and intention of what they were doing with Buck’s Ledge, I thought it would be a great opportunity to get middle school students connected.”

Student with Telstar’s Freshman Academy and at Woodstock Elementary School have already been involved. “There were lots of connections, lots of fun things,” Prescott added, “and the kids are excited about this. Every year we ask: how can we use our art to help our community?”

She met Jane Chandler on the hike, who then connected her with Ed and Leslie Rosenberg, who used to be the SAD 44 elementary art teacher.

Leslie volunteered in her class for five days, three classes a day. “It’s been great that we are finally able to have visitors,” said Prescott. “It’s so great to have an extra set of hands.”

Ten students in the Service Learning Through Art elective are designing benches and an art installation for the entrance. Some other students doing different projects inspired by Buck’s Ledge, but not directly on the design of the benches or entrance. Three other student worked on a fundraiser for Buck’s Ledge.

Prescott has done community service projects for many years. In their work, she wants her students to learn how to create consensus. “That’s what I’m connecting with as an art educator, she explained. “They brainstorm, they debate, they vote and practice democracy. They decide on a focus and guide their own learning.”

“All these projects are student-driven,” said Telstar Principal Mark Kenney. “That’s the most important thing — what’s important to them. Students self-select this class for the entire year. Often they pair with BAAM or other local artists, but this year they were able to tie into our Seven Peaks project a little bit more.”

Seven Peaks is something Telstar does from grades 6 through 12, Kenney explained. Each grade has a guiding question that they work on. All create a collective portfolio that leads up to their senior capstone project.

“The overall purpose is to have a program in place through the years,” said Kenney, “to give them a sense of what they want to do after graduation. Supports and mentors along the way help them explore different career fields, to make sure when they graduate that they have a plan.”

The guiding question for seventh grade is: How can I use my voice to be a champion? Within that essential question, students can pick their own topic.

“Each year when we let the kids choose what they want to focus on,” said Prescott, “I am just blown away by the things they want us to be talking about. They are profound.”

Six- and seventh-graders asked, “What can we do to help protect, preserve, and/or improve our outdoor environment?” And, eighth-graders came up with: “What can we do to help create environments that can support mental health and civil rights?”

Disability is one of the civil rights categories students discuss, so they were already talking about how they can be more welcoming. They chose to explore how to help everybody feel safe and welcome at Buck’s Ledge.

This work naturally connected with a larger effort at the school looking at civil rights, said Kenney.

“They are trying to expand the accessibly aspect of our school, our community and our surrounding recreational areas,” he said, “making sure people have access, exploring what’s in our backyard, a lot of our kids don’t get a chance to do that.”

“The benches are something that was needed,” said Prescott, “and something they could do. That’s what really hooked the kids into putting their energy behind this project,” she said, “seeing that they could help a place that they already know is pretty great and beautiful become more accessible to people.”

Students have also looked into the history of the land, starting with the Abenaki and the colonial settlers, thanks to some documents we were able to pull with help from the Museums of the Bethel Historical Society. Jim Chandler also met with sixth- and seventh-graders over Zoom and talked about the ecosystem of Buck’s Ledge, helping them understand how everything is connected there and how issues like water quality, climate change, and endangered species intersect in this project.

“I have always wanted to be a part of something really big,” Michaela, an eighth-grader, wrote in the Art Project log for Buck’s Ledge for bench 4. “So I am very excited to be a part of this installation. I LOVE the outdoors and it is amazing that someone is going to protect it for everyone to see. I also love how they are working to make everyone feel welcome. I don’t personally have a disability, however I do know multiple people who do, so it is nice to see someone sticking up for them. I am so excited to see something that I helped create stay in this area that I love so much. I love how when I am older and have kids I can say, ‘Did you guys know that I helped make this? And I designed this one little thing right here.’ I really am excited for benches and little things along the trail where later in life I can sit and chat with family. Also my great-grandparents can come with me because it is going to be a quiet, calm, and easy place to walk. That is why I am so excited for Buck’s Ledge!”

It’s important that this really is a true collaborative community forest, added Kenney.

“These benches and the installation should last for a while,” Kenney said. “Years from now, they can point out, ’I did that, I was part of that.’ I think it’s pretty powerful that middle school students are able to have that kind of impact on the community. It’s rare. And I think it’s important.”

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