Hillcrest Conservation Park
and Environmental Studies Center
Teachers Lyman Anderson, Stan Gibson and E. Vail Shelden worked together in the 1950's to produce a park and curriculum which
were the envy of NY State's educational system. They were ably led by
high school principal Russell Hogue and superintendent of schools Earl Soper.
Each of the three teachers left us a Master's
Thesis which describes beautifully their superb achievements. Lyman
Anderson, A Study in Conservation Education through The Rehabilitation of
School Owned Idle Lands, Colgate U., l952 (copy available from Lane
Anderson); E. Vail Shelden, The Need for Improving Conservation Practices in
Chenango County . . . School System, Cornell U., l951 (copy available at
Guernsey Memorial Library), and Stanford Gibson. We welcome any information
on Stan’s thesis.
High School Principal Russell Hogue teaches
fly-fishing at the muskrat marsh. Sept 28, 1954. Photo from
The Archive Yearbook, 1955, p.5.
“All
Faculty Members” received an invitation to “an After-School Cookout at
Hillcrest Conservation Park.”
Date, Oct. 20, 5 pm, “bring your family and
your evening, picnic supper.” A campfire program was advertised, and the
opportunity to tour the park “with professional guides.”
Lyman
Anderson’s thesis makes clear that this was the idea of Superintendent Earl
Soper.His thesis also
makes clear that Soper took the initiative to make the “lumber road” off
Manley Road more serviceable.
With the visibility and interest of the principal and superintendent, it is
no surprise that the Hillcrest project won such attention from the NY State
educational establishment, and the local community.
