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MCCTC students preserve Polish heritage
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Brett Wagner, also a horticulture student at the MCCTC, spreads slag in the park. Wagner and other students replaced crushed bricks there as a community-service project.
Students strive to preserve heritage at park
By Denise Dick
POLAND
Mahoning County Career and Technical Center horticulture students are helping to preserve Polish heritage while improving accessibility to a park in the heart of town.
Mary June Emerson, horticulture instructor, said the project started last fall to replace the crushed brick in Peterson Park with paving bricks.
It’s a community service project for the students that also gives them real-life experience, she said. The project will conclude this fall.
The horticulture program covers everything from landscaping to floral design.
Seniors Michael Jarrett, 19, from Austintown Fitch, and Noah Howley, 18, from Boardman, and junior Brett Wagner, 18, from Jackson-Milton, worked Wednesday spreading slag to provide a foundation for the bricks.
“We’re leveling it out to provide an even surface,” said Howley.
That’s important, Wagner explained, because a level surface allows all of
the bricks to fit together smoothly. If some bricks are set lower or higher than others, it would create a safety hazard.
Jarrett provides the muscle for various projects, loading and hauling bricks in a wheelbarrow between areas.
Peterson Park, at the intersection of state routes 616 and 170 and U.S. Route 224, was dedicated in 2006. The park, which was created by Town One Streetscapes, features a statue of Revolutionary War heroes Col. Thaddeus Kosciuszko and Gen. Casimir Pulaski. The community was named to honor the two Polish military men.
In 2011, Polish Youngstown moved the monument to Polish veterans from World Wars I and II to the park.
“It was at the Krakusy Hall on South Avenue since 1970,” said Lisa Skomra-Lotze of Polish Youngstown.
That building was sold, and out of concerns that the monument would fall into disrepair, the group moved it to Peterson Park, she said.
Preservation of Polish heritage is important to the group, Skomra-Lotze said. But when members relocated the monument, they noticed the crushed brick surrounding the park made it difficult for wheelchairs — and even strollers or women wearing heels — to navigate.
That’s when the group began fundraising to replace the crushed brick with the paving bricks. Skomra-Lotze read a news article about MCCTC’s horticulture program.
Emerson and the students are volunteering their time. Troy Duwe of Structural Escapes in Poland also donated his services to the effort, serving as project manager.
“I recently moved to Poland, and I drive by the park every day,” Duwe said. “I just wanted to give back to the community.”
Emerson said that by working with Duwe, students get the experience of learning from someone in the industry. Community-service projects such as this one also create partnerships between the school and companies and other organizations.
“It also becomes a potential employer for my kids,” she said.