Leadership Academy group building Deer Trail extension at VUJC

The Dubois County Leadership Academy Team, Trail Blazers, is creating a .27 mile extension to the cross country trail on the Vincennes University Jasper Campus. Members Mark Csernik and Clyde Harper, both Kimball Electronics employees, work to move a log that will line the new route through the woods.

A group with the 2016 Dubois County Leadership Academy is busy blazing a trail through the woods on the Vincennes University Jasper Campus.

Appropriately named, the Trail Blazers is a group of six Dubois County residents taking part in the annual academy designed to build new leaders in the community and assist in the creation of a project to benefit the community. There goal is to create an extension to the cross country trail the Jasper Cross Country team races on at the campus.

Past capstone projects include #DuboisCountyChalkTalk, the Jasper Bark Park, the Riverwalk emergency call boxes and the bike rental program in Huntingburg.

A deer skull found along the trail that was formerly used for business team-building exercises. The new trail will be called Deer Trail.

The Trail Blazers, whose members include Mark Csernik, Clyde Harper, Lisa Bower, Stephanie Rawlins, Neil Weyer and Bobbi Woebkenberg, decided to add a quarter-mile extension to the trail around the Jasper campus to run through a portion of the woods.

“If we can continue the project in other areas of the campus, the cross country trail could be sheltered by the woods for the majority of the route,” Project leader Stephanie Rawlins explained.

When finished, the trail will be a little over 1.7 miles in total length with the new extensions.

_DSC4609forweb — The group worked on the trail in late June. Mark, Stephanie, Clyde and Neal all worked for several hours on the warm day.

Since June, the group has been out hacking, sawing, raking and clearing the path. Along with their hands on work, the City of Jasper has offered to supply mulch for the trail once it is completed. Also, the street department has donated a large rock to mark the trail’s beginning in a field near the Center for Technology, Innovation and Manufacturing building.

The group is seeking volunteers to assist with the trail construction. The weekly work schedule can be followed at the group’s Facebook Page Dubois County Leadership Academy Trail Blazers.

The group plans on completing the trail by the August 11th graduation date for the academy.

On Saturday, July 30 the group is hosting a work session starting at 9:30 a.m. to lay the mulch and clean up around the trail. The public is welcome to join the effort.