For the 22nd year, student volunteers hit the trails

This weekend, about 200 Hampton Roads students will get their hands dirty for a good cause.

The middle and high school students are participating in the 22nd Annual Global Youth Service Day on Saturday. Instead of sleeping in, the teens will be spending three hours of their morning at area parks and arboretums, helping with things like cleaning up trails, spreading mulch and planting trees.

VOLUNTEER Hampton Roads has coordinated the project locally for the past 11 years.

Amber Gwaltney, membership manager for the organization, said during that time, they have seen the number of local youth volunteers steadily increase.

"We have grown it," Gwaltney said, adding that this year VOLUNTEER Hampton Roads was even able to add a new work site, at Hoffler Creek Wildlife Preserve in Portsmouth.

Also for the first time, the local Global Youth Service Day invited several area schools to help with the volunteer effort. Cape Henry Collegiate in Virginia Beach, Grassfield High in Chesapeake, Norfolk Academy and Norfolk Collegiate will all have students volunteering.

"The goal is to support them on a lifelong path of volunteerism," Gwaltney said.

For many of these school volunteers, Gwaltney said, it will be opportunity to witness first-hand some of the environmental concepts they have learned in the classroom.

"Most of the schools are doing some sort of project, so they were very excited to participate," Gwaltney said. "There will be an education component at each site. The students will be learning about beach erosion, learning about estuaries and proper care for them, recycling and preserving habitats and beautification."

Gwaltney said the organization's nonprofit partners will have someone at each site to teach the students about the topics associated with each particular site.

"We want them to go in and work with their hands and really learn how people are careless with the environment," said Larry Ward, director of community service at Cape Henry. "They do learn so much about the environment and giving back to the environment and the community. It's a win-win for everybody."

In addition to Portsmouth's Hoffler Creek site, where students will learn about estuaries and their proper care, the students will learn about beach erosion at First Landing State Park in Virginia Beach; the importance of recycling at Barraud Park in Norfolk; and the benefits of trail cleanup, habitat preservation and beautification at the Chesapeake Arboretum.

"They can actually apply what they're learning in the classroom and apply it in the community," Gwaltney said. "It's a good mix of volunteerism and education."

Rita Frankenberry, 222-5102,

rita.frankenberry@pilotonline.com