Last fall, the Cecil Friends received a phone call from Assistant Principal Alex Covi of Keystone Oaks High School asking if we could use any assistance on our section of the Trail. He was looking for a location for the students in his Alternative Education program to do some work out in the country for which he was beginning to prepare a grant proposal to fund his project. Alex was invited to our September meeting to describe his program and to get ideas that could be included in his proposal.

His Alternative Education program is for students from troubled lifestyles that are having difficulties in the classroom. This program allows the students to learn values while providing a community service. Several years ago Mr.Covi, while teaching at Chartiers Valley High School, brought the Science Club out to the Trail for a day and performed a spring spruce up under the direction of Don Berty.

Mr. Covi was successful in obtaining the grant and his students will perform work in the Keystone Oaks School District communities of Greentree, Dormont and Castle Shannon and on the Montour Trail in Cecil and on the Panhandle Trail. Thus far, his students plan on building two dozen benches to the specs of the Allegheny Trail Alliance. A dozen or so of those benches will be spaced between Hendersonville and Southview, about a half-dozen on the Panhandle with a some spares left over. The benches will be pre-fabricated in the high school shop and brought to the trail for installation under the supervision of the local Friends' groups. The benches will be installed by the start of summer. He expects to have around $10,000 to spend on trail related projects that will include transportation, food, teacher salaries and materials.

Look for a story in an upcoming edition of the Trail Letter with photos on the progress of this project.

- Dennis Sims