The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
StoryWalk added to Community Fitness Trail
Student’s Eagle Scout project to be dedicated at Sept. 19 ceremony
Charley Barnicoat Jr. is helping to make exercise a bit more entertaining for people who use the Madison Community Fitness Trail. Charley recently completed the construction of a StoryWalk sign system on the trail, which is located behind Madison Middle School, 6079 Middle Ridge Road in Madison Township. A StoryWalk is a series of signs, often placed along a walking or fitness path, that display laminated pages from a children’s book, so a person can read the entire story from start to finish. This concept, which holds a registered trademark, was created about 10 years ago by Montpelier, Vt. resident Anne Ferguson, who finetuned the idea with the help of the Kellogg-Hubbard Library in her hometown. Madison Community Fitness Trail’s new StoryWalk will be dedicated during an on-site ceremony slated for 6 p.m., Sept. 19. The public is invited to this event. Charley raised money for and built the StoryWalk as a project required to achieve the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America. A senior at Madison High School and the Auburn Career Center in Concord Township, where he studies computer networking technology, Charley chose a StoryWalk as his Eagle Scout project during his freshman year. Madison Public Library proposed the idea to Charley after learning that he was pursuing the Eagle Scout honor. “In periodically working with (aspiring Eagle Scouts), we ask, ‘Do you need a project, or what are you thinking about a project?’ because sometimes we help them find projects in the community,” said Shawn Walsh, emerging services and technologies librarian at the library. “In this case, we had a potential project and wanted to see if Charley was interested in it.”
Charley liked the idea and immediately began developing his strategy on how to pay for and build the StoryWalk. His first task was to calculate how much it would cost to purchase construction materials such as wooden posts, polycarbonate resin thermoplastic, fasteners and screws.
When it came to securing project funding, Charley got all the help he needed from a single source — the Kiwanis Club of Madison. At that time, Walsh and two other Madison Public Library employees were members of the group.
“They basically footed the bill for the project,” said Charley, who is 17 years old and resides in Madison Township.
Prior to sharing his vision for the project at a Kiwanis meeting, Charley secured price quotes for materials at area stores and businesses, and visited an actual StoryWalk in Medina to get a feel for how one is laid out and constructed.
After receiving a $2,500 check from Kiwanis Club of Madison earlier this year, Charley could at last formulate his plan for building the StoryWalk on the fitness trail.
One thing he learned in his first attempt at managing a major project is that building supplies aren’t always delivered on time.
“We had all the boards and items like that cut and ready, it’s just that we had to wait for all the fasteners and other materials to come in before we could actually start,” he said. Construction finally began around mid-July, with Charley receiving assistance from about eight members of his Boy Scout troop. The project itself consists of 20 pressure-treated wooden posts, which are topped by display platforms that feature laminated pages of children’s books under coverings made of Lexan, a brand of clear polycarbonate resin thermoplastic. While the first post on the StoryWalk will introduce the project partners — Madison Schools, Madison Public Library and Kiwanis Club of Madison — each post to follow will feature two pages of a children’s book. The library will choose the books to be featured on the StoryWalk and install the sequence of pages. Walsh explained that the the standard children’s picture book is 32 pages. However, some books can be 34 pages if the author uses the inside of the cover and back side of the book to start and end their story. Either way, it means when a book is chosen for the StoryWalk, it will require the library to disassemble two copies of that book — to account front and back sides of pages — and reassemble them, two pages at a time, on each post. The first book to featured on the StoryWalk when it opens Sept. 19 is “The Pigeon HAS to Go to School!” by Mo Willems. “Mo Willems is pretty famous for a bunch of his characters,” Walsh said. “One of them is this pigeon who stars in things. And the pigeon tends to be obstinate and not want to do anything. The whole premise in the book is the pigeon eventually will do whatever. In this case, the pigeon is going to school.” The library plans to change books on a quarterly basis, year round. Charley’s connection to the library extends back even further than when he signed on for the project during his freshman year. “I’ve come here since sixth grade, maybe fifth grade,” he said. “I’ve done most of their programs that they have offered.” Charley also works as a part-time page at the library and previously served the organization as an intern. Madison Schools Superintendent Angela Smith said she believes it will be a great community asset. “This StoryWalk has been something I have wanted to see on the fitness trail since we dedicated it three years ago,” Smith said. “What makes this even more special is that it’s a true collaboration with the scouts, the library and the schools. I am proud that Charley has planned it and is making his vision a reality for our community.”