Pitt-Bradford Students Tackle Project toIncrease Trail Use in Area

The Appalachian Regional Commission is helping to take University of Pittsburgh at Bradford students out of the classroom and into the community by sponsoring the rapidly evolving GPS Mapping and Community Development Project centered in McKean County.

On Oct. 4, students of Dr. William Schuman III, assistant professor of anthropology, will participate in a seminar held on campus by the Pennsylvania Wilds. They will conduct a workshop detailing the work that they have done thus far on a trails project and what their plans are for the project in the future.

The trail project uses interactive trail mapping software to create virtual tours of McKean County wildlife trails. The trail information will be able to be accessed through applications on hand-held devices and will feature facts about landmarks on the trail, such as naturally occurring developments and historical sites. This information would be community specific and not the type of routine fact that could be found easily on the Internet. Project organizers hope to help local businesses gain a competitive advantage by using the data entries on the trail to promote local landmarks and businesses in the area.

Last year members of the trail project, led by Schumann, laid the groundwork for this year’s efforts by attending town meetings in several communities alongside representatives of the Allegheny National Forest Visitor’s Bureau to help to measure the level of community interest in the project.

Later Schumann received grants for the trail project, including an Oakland Innovation in Education Award and an Appalachian Teaching Project grant. This month, he will lead his students in Applied Anthropology in mapping and photographing the Potato Creek Trail in Smethport. He calls this year’s work on the project, “The perfect storm of student ability, outside campus partnerships and community interest.”

The trail project is being developed in partnership with the Allegheny National Forest Visitors Bureau, Pitt-Bradford’s Center for Rural Health Practice, the borough of Smethport, and the Potato Creek Trail Association. Within the campus community, Dr. Reece Wilson, assistant professor of education, and his students will design and add digitally based lesson plans to the trail app for the students of the Smethport Area School District.

Schumann said his students’ participation in the project is an opportunity to distinguish themselves and adds that their involvement in the project could help them to find internships, bolster résumés, and build working relationships and networking opportunities with professionals who may be able to give students an edge in the job market later.

Last year, Schumann and his students traveled to Washington D.C to submit their research to the ARC. The group will return in December of this year to present their work.

Pictured, from left, University of Pittsburgh at Bradford education students Beth Mealy, Nick Anderson and Kelly Peterson, and anthropology students Kayla Branch and Dominika Urban, showing off the coordinates of a bridge they’ve mapped for a trails mobile app to enhance use of the Potato Creek trail in Smethport. The education students will be developing a curriculum to complement the app.
Pitt-Bradford photo

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