As part of Earth Day celebrations, McDill Elementary School students, families and community members held a ribbon-cutting ceremony and festival-like event to reveal its new trail – names for which the students created – through the 5.2 acres of woods behind the school Friday, April 22.

“We’ve done a lot in a year,” said Sara Windjue, senior outreach specialist for the Wisconsin K-12 Energy Education Program at University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (UWSP). “We’re very lucky to have these woods. We want you to utilize it and we hope you will help take care of it.”

Windjue, along with school Principal Jeanne Koepke, school physical education teacher Courtney Vaughan and Eagle Scout Aidan McManus, cut the ribbon. School mascot Timber also assisted.

A hike through the trails with specific stops for activities along the way followed. Arts and crafts, food, educational programs led by UWSP students and a candlelight walk also were among the activities. Linwood Springs Research Center, Stevens Point, also had a great horned owl on hand for students to view.

The event was two-fold: To celebrate Earth Day, but also to celebrate the McDill woods and the trail names that the students created this past school year. There were more than 300 names, Vaughan said, so staff narrowed the list, and students voted in February for their favorites.

The names are Paw Path, Animal Tracks Trail, Badger Trail and Timber Trail. There also is the Wolf Den, which is the outdoor learning center, created with the help of McManus, a junior at Stevens Point Area Senior High School who chose the project to earn his Eagle Scout Award.

McManus was looking for a project and was speaking with a fellow scout, who had heard about McDill’s trail efforts.

“So I called them, and they were very enthusiastic,” he said. “Most of the stuff you do as a Boy Scout is outdoors. You like to be connected to the outdoors, and they needed someone to help with it.”

McManus created, designed and built a white board out of cedar and reinforced it with galvanized steel so it won’t rust and will retain magnetic properties for the learning center area. He also made a metal podium so teachers had space to teach students. There are tables in the center space for student to sit on. It took a full weekend to erect.

“I think it’s really neat to be able to put something out here,” McManus said. “It means a lot. It means kids are getting outdoors and they’re learning about it, they’re using the board I built for them, and maybe someday they will be scouts.

“I think it’s pretty cool,” he said.

McManus is a member of Boy Scout Troop 201, Plover.