Putting people to work

Culver Academy sophomore gets hundreds
involved in park improvements

By IDA CHIPMAN
Tribune Correspondent

Megan Millard and Susie Mahler go over the drawings for the Culver Town Park cleanup and tree planting event to take place April 17. Tribune Photos/IDA CHIPMAN Helping Out Tax-deductible honorary and memorial maple or dogwood tree plantings are $400 apiece and may be ordered through Susie Mahler at (574) 842-5211. "We have already sold six of our 36 available trees," Mahler said. "We'd love to have them all spoken for by April 16."

CULVER -- Megan Millard's been working on this project for over six months.

Now, the Culver Academies student is looking forward to having a lot more help in the next couple of weeks.

"Back home in Greenville, S.C., I was active with the National Youth Service Day organization," she said.

"I wanted to do something like that here."

She decided the Culver Town Park could use some help and set out to round up volunteers to assist with a spring cleanup April 17.

"I started back at the beginning of the fall semester in September, by getting approval from the Culver Academies' Community Service Council."

The Council, made up of representatives from the various dorms and barracks, gave its OK, and Megan, a sophomore, got to work.

Megan said one of her primary reasons for organizing a work party was to connect the school and the town.

"Community service builds ties," she said. "I have noticed there is a gap between the Academies and the town.

"We need to make a difference in this community where we live for nine months of the year. I think this will help do that."

Apparently her sentiments are echoed by others in the Academies family.

Over 300 students, parents and faculty have signed up to join in the project.

"I am amazed," she said. "Amazed and excited that it has taken off in such a spectacular fashion."

"To be honest, I didn't realize how much work was involved in getting the project off the ground. Getting volunteers excited about raking is not the easiest thing in the world.

Megan Millard shows how improvements to the Culver town park ought to look after the April 17 work day.

"We made posters, flyers and sign-up sheets for every dorm as well as the lunchroom and hallways," she said.

And Megan herself made the rounds of the Academies' organizations and the town's civic meetings.

A second-year student at Culver, Megan said she is interested in "just about everything."

She is on the soccer, swim and lacrosse teams and is a staffer on the school paper, The Vidette.

Somehow, she found the time to devote to her newest project.

She spoke at Kiwanis, Culver Parents' Board meetings and the Alumni Culver Club to name just a few.

At first, she planned on just raking the grounds and cleaning up the beach.

"We students enjoy those facilities all year long," she said. "And I figured if we had enough people to help, we could also pull some weeds and maybe plant some flowers and tend to the Indian trails that lead from the school to the park."

But then, last November, she met Susie Mahler, owner of Cafe Max and manager of Culver Reservations, and the project took on new life.

Mahler's thing primarily is trees. The walls of Max's Cafe are covered with renderings of a Master Landscape Plan for the town's park.

"We have had a landscape project in the works for some time," Mahler said.

The plan was designed by Prices' Landscape and Nursery of Plymouth, with arborist Michael Fellow of Price's and Jeff Ling of Arborwise hired to help.

Megan's wish to bring the Academies and the Culver communities together is already working.

"There is a spirit of cooperation between the Park Board, the Town Council, Academies students, parents and faculty and numerous individuals who live in Culver," Mahler said, "to get this done."

The entire community is turning out.

There will be local landscapers, lawn maintenance workers, the Academy's grounds director and the landscape designer on hand to supervise the work crews.

"There is much work to be done," Mahler said. "It may take several years, but we are getting started.

"And we are doing it together."

"And that," Megan added, "is a very good thing."