IMS students support Salisbury sidewalk initiative with Fun Run at Hotchkiss

LAKEVILLE — Ninth grade students at Indian Mountain School are turning classroom lessons into real-world action through a community initiative aimed at improving pedestrian safety along Route 41.

A group of four students is helping raise awareness and funds for a proposed sidewalk connecting the Hotchkiss School campus to downtown Lakeville — a heavily traveled route that many students currently navigate on foot without a sidewalk. CC Stevenson and Winter Williams, both ninth graders who will attend Hotchkiss this fall, organized the effort alongside classmates Terumichi Kurasawa and Bobby Reynolds, culminating in a Fun Run at the Hotchkiss track during which community members ran laps for donations. Stevenson said 44 participants took part in the event, completing a combined 513 laps — equivalent to 128 miles and 75.5 sidewalk lengths.

The project is part of IMS’ year-long ninth grade capstone project, an interdisciplinary initiative inspired by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Institute for Humane Education’s “solutionary” framework.

“This project was designed to help remind students why we learn things, which is to make a positive change in the world,” said Tom Stewart, who leads IMS’ sustainability programming and launched the program in 2016. “We learn about world issues and then students create potential solutions to those things.”

Originally a short end-of-year assignment, the project has evolved over the past decade into a collaborative, year-long study combining science, history and English coursework with project-based learning. This year marked a significant shift with an increased focus on local issues with tangible outcomes.

For Stevenson, Williams, Kurasawa and Reynolds, the issue was obvious.

“For many years, we’ve noticed the danger of how Hotchkiss students walk into town,” Williams said. “We thought if we could find a way to support that sidewalk installation, it would be a great way to better our community as a whole.”

After researching funding possibilities, the students connected with the Salisbury Pathways Committee, which is already pursuing grant funding for the sidewalk project. With guidance from the committee, they focused on awareness and community support, organizing the Fun Run fundraiser.

“Making sure the community is aware about it and can support the cause moving forward is our goal,” Stevenson said.

Stewart said the program challenges both students and teachers to embrace uncertainty and collaboration.

“The faculty involved are facilitators,” he said. “They’re there to help students get from A to B, but they’re not directing much of the action.”

Stevenson said the experience revealed how much impact young people can have when supported by a strong community.

“It was shocking to realize how much of an impact we can make just being ninth graders at IMS,” she said. “It definitely gave me a new appreciation for how much a caring, supportive community can make a difference.”

From left: CC Stevenson, Terumichi Kurasawa, Bobby Reynolds and Winter WilliamsAly Morrissey