Local News

Written by Wes Schmidgall   

 

BLOOMINGTON — Teens United for McLean County recently announced they will construct a Born Learning Trail, consisting of nine activity signs that encourage young children and families to do things together, at White Oak Park, 1514 N. Cottage Ave., Bloomington.

It will be the fourth Born Learning Trail that Teens United has constructed under the guidance of United Way in McLean County in as many years.
“Our Teens United program does all this,” said United Way Vice President Sarah Coffer. “That program has 18 juniors and seniors from nine of the local high schools and they work in the nine-month school year.”
In previous years, Teens United constructed Born Learning Trails at Anderson Park in Normal, Tipton Park in Bloomington and Keller Park in Lexington.
“Last year we were out at Keller Park in Lexington and this year we came back to the Bloomington-Normal area,” said Coffer. “We got the north side and the east side and so we wanted to look at something on the west side.
“We met with the City of Bloomington with John Kennedy (director of Bloomington’s parks, recreation and cultural arts department) and they suggested White Oak Park, which is perfect,” said Coffer.
This Saturday, Teens United will study White Oak Park and determine where to place the nine activity signs that United Way Worldwide provides for each Born Learning Trail, along the paved path that runs through the park.
“There are nine activity signs on it,” said Coffer. “We just have to figure out what order we want to put them in. They’re (students) going to figure out the layout they want and then they’re going to present that to City of Bloomington representatives in October. The path is already there, so all we have to do is work with them to get the signs installed.”
The City of Bloomington will pour concrete pads next to the activity signs.
“The City will actually pour concrete for that and then in the spring they’ll install the signs and then we’ll paint the trail with stencils — they have ABCs and so forth,” said Coffer.
Once complete, the activity signs will allow children ages 5 and under to learn, while having fun. The activity signs allow children to play hopscotch, identify shapes, discover original stories and participate in other learning activities. They were created for the purpose of preparing children for kindergarten.
The activity signs and concrete pads will be adjacent to the paved path and not interfere with runners, bicyclists and other trail users.
Teens United tentatively plans to open the trail on April 28 with a five-kilometer race and community event “to bring people out to the new Born Learning Trail and kind of introduce it to them.”
Coffer expects Teens United to continue to construct Born Learning Trails in McLean County annually.
“We actually had someone outside of the community in Heyworth ask to have a trail there and so we will be looking at that for next year,” said Coffer. “As long as communities that we work with with our students are looking for an enhancement to their parks, we think that the more opportunities for families to have a new amenity to the park that helps with early education, the better.”
Teens United for the 2011-2012 school year include Camira Ferguson and Ricky Zamudio of Bloomington High School; Erin Kate Brady and Zach Thomas of Bloomington Central Catholic High School; Carley Cotner and Eric Tomlin of Heyworth High School; Shane Bruning and Molly Marcum of LeRoy High School; Connor Kelley and Ben Leake of Lexington High School; Megan Hoepker and Emma Wilson of Normal Community High School; James Gladney and Turner Reid of Normal Community West High School; Jaden Horrer and Jacob Irons of Olympia High School; and Macy Andre and E.J. Newble of Normal University High School.