Green Team Partners With Oxford High School  

In a new initiative, the Groundwork Bridgeport Green Team, made up of students from Warren Harding High School, is partnering with the Youth Conservation Corps at Oxford High School to learn and work together at Weir Farm National Historic Site.  The students from both schools are being introduced to the National Park Service, learning about the environment, and benefiting from working with students of diverse backgrounds and people of different ages.

The project involves a partnership between Weir Farm National Historic Site and Groundwork Bridgeport to carry out periodic and deferred maintenance work that the limited Weir Farm staff would not have the time or resources to carry out.  The students involved in the Green Team and the Youth Conservation Corps work together at Weir Farm during full work days to gain job experience and exposure to the environment, which is especially important for Bridgeport’s inner-city youth.  As a result, visitor health and safety at the park site is increased by making more accessible trails and lessening the risk of stone walls collapsing.  

Together, students from Bridgeport and Oxford learn to tear down and rebuild the historical rocks walls that still exist at Weir Farm.

The youth, under the supervision of the Weir Farm Horticulturist and the Groundwork Program Manager, will gain valuable experience in such areas as:
• plant identification
• tree & shrub pruning
• invasive plant removal
• stone wall building and repair
• use of tools for mechanical advantage
• trail repair
• plant bed renovation
• field edge restoration

Weir Farm’s proximity to Bridgeport makes it an ideal partner to introduce the youth to the National Park Service and to the types of work involved in maintaining a national historic site.  The students also have the opportunity to learn about and witness the careers made possible through departments such as the National Park Service.