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Parkway receives student, faculty aid |
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Thursday, 01 March 2007 |
Editor’s Note: This is the first of a five-part series on the Blue Ridge Parkway.
by NICK IANNIELLO
News Reporter
Thanks to the efforts of many Appalachian State University professors and students, the Blue Ridge Parkway may be on its way to getting some much needed relief.
“If
we don’t do it, who’s going to do it?” Janice T. Pope, assistant
communication chairperson, said in reference to the lack of funding for
the National Park scenic road that neighbors Boone.
Because of financial issues, the Blue Ridge Parkway may need to cut its
already dwindling staff by 12 people this year in order to make budget,
Pope said.
“They’re in what are undeniably tight circumstances,” Pope said.
Bambi Teague, parkway chief of resource management, said 57 positions
at the parkway are currently vacant because of meager funding.
Assistant chair and associate professor in the history department professor Neva J. Specht was hired this year to the
newly created position of Blue Ridge Parkway Liaison at Appalachian.
“We don’t have funds to offer, but we do have faculty expertise and student power,” Specht said.
Through her efforts, many Appalachian students have begun class
projects focusing on helping the Blue Ridge Parkway meet its needs.
Proposed projects have ranged in variety from architectural designing
to the creation of a new internship with the Blue Ridge Parkway offered
only to Appalachian students.
Pope teaches a communication research methods class this semester that
will take a survey of student’s use, knowledge and attitudes about the
Blue Ridge Parkway.
The survey, which will use cluster sampling methods, will be used in an
environmental communications class next semester that will be executing
campaigns to promote student awareness about the parkway.
“I think that experiential learning and community involvement helps students tremendously,” Pope said.
Amy A. Renfranz, a senior English major, spends time on the weekends volunteering at Cone Manor on the Blue Ridge Parkway.
“I think it’s just a really precious thing that we have so close to us,” Renfranz said.
Renfranz volunteers through the Friends of the Blue Ridge Parkway, one
of the many organizations that helps raise funds and volunteer hours to
keep the parkway running.
J. Reynolds Patterson is a student in a public relations practices
class that is working on a campaign to promote the sale of Blue Ridge
Parkway license plates.
Blue Ridge Parkway license plates cost $30 with $20 going to the parkway.
“More student involvement is critical to keeping the parkway maintained,” Patterson said.
Teague, who travels the parkway regularly as a staff member, said that these kinds of projects are essential to the parkway.
“We don’t know how to access the students,” Teague said.
Parkway officials want to use this new connection with Appalachian to not only help
students learn through the parkway but also get information that will help keep the parkway
maintained and beautiful.
“We can tell that there are areas of the parkway that are not used when Appalachian students are not around,” Teague said.
Trampling and off-trail use has caused a great deal of damage to the area around the parkway.
“The parkway is one of the most pristine and sensitive resources,” Teague said.
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