Story Book Trail opens on Friday as an attraction for BRA visitors
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July 15, 2024
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Tom Tolen / [email protected]
19-year-old Josie Morley from Brighton is a young woman with a mission. She is working to improve the experience of visitors to Brighton Recreation Area by creating a Story Book Trail.
At the same time, Morley is working toward the Girl Scouts’ highest honor – the Gold Award. According to the rules, the project undertaken must involve 80 volunteer hours and be sustainable – that is, it must be a permanent addition that contributes in some way to the betterment of the local community. With a little help from her stepfather, Brent Delabarre, Morley is in the process of assembling 20 of the wooden posts using plywood side brackets.
Morley, who graduated from Brighton High School last month with a 4.18 grade point average, is a longtime member of the Girl Scouts, an organization she has been a part of since third grade. Her grade point average is above a “perfect” 4.0 because she has taken performance-enhancing courses.
To move her project forward, Morley received permission from Brighton Recreation Area officials to build a trail with 20 “trail” stations. Each station will contain a single page from a storybook chosen in May through a contest open to elementary and middle school students in Brighton Area Schools. The pages will be laminated to protect them from the weather.
Entries were submitted by 10 pupils from Years 4 to 6 at Brighton Primary School and Maltby Intermediate School. The winner of the competition was Elodie Stevenson, a Year 5 pupil at Maltby Intermediate. The storybook – about the adventures of a young girl on a river – is aptly titled ‘The River’.
Jason Colbert, a ranger who oversees volunteer and scout projects at the recreation area, is Morley’s adviser. “I’m grateful to him for allowing me to do this and giving me creative freedom,” she says. She’s also grateful for the help of volunteers from Brighton Light House, who helped her dig 20 holes.
The 1,300-foot Story Book Trail is located at the Bishop Lake boat ramp near the campground. Morley will attend Michigan State University in the fall to study biosystems engineering. She credits her success in school and her ambition to her parents – her mother Stephanie Morley, her father Abe Morley and her stepfather Brent Delabarre.
Morley has eight sponsors, including downtown Brighton businesses, including Brighton Light House, Brighton Coffee House and Theater, Label Kitchen + Bar, Jackie’s Custard, The White Dress, Wallflower Mercantile, Oh My Lolli and American Awards & Engraving, which donated the plaque at the trail entrance. Additionally, Chet’s Rent-All gave her a discount on the auger she used to dig the holes.
After final approval from the DNR, Morley plans to open the Story Book Trail this Friday, July 19.