Wanted: Money for Stokes State Forest Trip

Armed with posters and signs, two dozen former students, along with a group of parents, recently pleaded with the Berkeley Board of Education to put the traditional Stokes State Forest environmental education field trip back in the school budget.

Whether the $80,000 trip will be included in the new 2011-2012 budget was a bone of contention at a sometimes raucous meeting earlier this month.

Board members discussed the possibility of setting up a 501 (c) (3) foundation in order to cover the costs of the trip. Board President James J. Byrnes said the board would consider covering any costs for the trip not raised through the foundation.

“The board could fill a void if there wasn’t enough raised,” he said.

“Do what’s right for the kids,”  some students shouted in the background.

Toni  Sisia-Verissimo told the board to put the children first.

“Put Stokes back in the budget for next year," she said. "We do not want it raised. It's not acceptable.”

“Come back and help us find the $80,000," Byrnes said.

Last year was the first time in 40 years that district fifth-graders did not attend the program at the 15,000-acre Stokes State Forest in Sussex County. The trip was eliminated in 2010 due to budget constraints. However, the current sixth-grade class, who lost out on the trip last year, will be attending the trip this June.  From now on, sixth-graders will most likely attend the trip, Board Secretary Laura J. Venter said.

One after another, students approached the microphone and praised the benefits of the trip.

Central Regional High School senior Amanda Bonilla told the board the Stokes trip changed her life. She plans to study wildlife conservation at Unity College in Maine this fall.

“When originally I went, I thought no big deal, but when I got back I knew what I wanted to do for the rest of my life,” she said.

Sandy Seidler, Bonilla's mother, said Unity College teaches youth to put back in the earth what was taken.

“That’s exactly what Stokes taught,” she said.

This spring, north wing students at the Berkeley Township Elementary School are scheduled to attend the trip from June 7 to June 9, while those in the south wing will go from June 9 to June 11.

At Stokes, students will be attending the New Jersey School of Conservation (NJSOC), which was founded in 1949. The New Jersey School of Conservation (NJSOC) is the oldest and largest university-operated environmental education field center in the nation. 

It was originally a Civilian Conservation Corps camp that was built in the 1930s. The NJSOC has been operated for the State of New Jersey by Montclair State University since 1972. Administratively, it is now a division of the College of Science and Mathematics.  The New Jersey School of Conservation is located on a 240-acre campus in Branchville.