This year between May 10^th and June 10^th, NeighborSpace was joined by two interns from Friends School for their Senior Work Project. These young men were Harry Deller (left) and Ned Forbush (right) and their internships focused on (a) well-built communities (b) the importance of community open space and (c) the importance of native plants.

       

Week 1:

The week of May 10^th included a full introduction to the topics:

• Monday started off with a tour of community parks in the City neighborhoods of Butchers Hill and Washington Hill.
• Tuesday involved a tour of innovative projects in southwest Baltimore including Stillmeadow Peace Park and Stafford Community Park, where community leader, Chris Schulze broke down the value of the park to their community. We also visited the forested neighborhood of Ten Hills and the well-built modern community of Uplands.
• Wednesday involved a tour of two of our beloved Catonsville sites: Newburg Ave., where Jane Willeboordse and Eric Lund discussed the community’s love for bocce ball, and Levickas Woods at Dunmore where Cliff Palmer broke down the story of how we saved 7 acres of forest from development.
• Thursday took us to Cherry Heights Woodland Garden where we met with Nature Therapist, Zoe Jack, who discussed the importance of nature and mental health before the boys joined Native Landscaper, Victor Bennett, at his nearby nursery for a workshop.
• Friday took us to Ridgely Manor Park in East Towson where we met with leaders from the community and Green Towson Alliance to plan our May 15^th joint event. After that we joined Nancy Goldring, head of the Northeast Towson Improvement Association and Adelaide Bentley’s granddaughter, at Adelaide Bentley Park where we discussed the issues of race and environmental justice in Historic East Towson. We capped the day off with a stop at Herring Run Nursery where the interns picked out native plants for their mothers.

Week 2:

On the week of May 17^th,  Ned and Harry broke out into their own internships with Ned, an aspiring real estate developer, focusing on development, and Harry, a nature lover and aspiring writer, focusing on the value of nature. Both young men spent the week reading Bringing Nature Home by Doug Tallamy and we capped the week with a field trip to the well-named Evergreen neighborhood of Baltimore (shown right).

Ned began working on his capstone project which was a PowerPoint presentation while visiting well-built open spaces at:

• Sherwood Gardens
• Stony Run Trail
• Washington Arboretum
• Evesham Park

Harry wrote the first of his two newsletter articles (also in this newsletter) while observing nature in well-built neighborhoods:

• Homeland
• Stoneleigh
• Tuscany-Canterbury
• Cedarcroft

Week 3:

On the week of May 24^th, Ned and Harry began reading Nature’s Best Hope by Doug Tallamy and the week ended with a resident-led tour of the historic mill town of Dickeyville (shown right) in West Baltimore.

Ned spent this week touring recent developments in the inner suburbs to evaluate their open space. These developments included:

• Red Run Reserve (Owings Mills)
• Cottages at Norman Creek (Middle River)
• Limekiln Farm (Towson)
• Strawbridge Commons (Perry Hall)

Harry spent the week beyond the URDL in preserved wooded areas to help inspire his writing. These spots included:

• Patapsco Valley State Park
• Oregon Ridge Park
• Gunpowder Falls State Park
• North Point State Park

Week 4:

On the week of May 31^st, the final full week of their internship, Harry and Ned finished up their reading and worked on their respective projects. For Ned it was his PowerPoint, while for Harry it was his second article (to be sent out next month) The week ended with a tour a Roland Park and a look at the future Hillside Park.

While finishing up his PowerPoint Ned visited his last three open spaces which included:

• Zen Garden in Woodberry
• The park at the Rotunda
• Canton Waterfront Park

While finishing his second article Harry checked out some additional sites:

• Volz Park (NeighborSpace)
• Norman Creek (NeighborSpace)
• Jones Falls Trail
• Druid Hill Park
• Cylburn Arboretum

Week 5:

In their final week, the week of June 7^th, Ned gave a full PowerPoint Presentation to NeighborSpace Staff and Board Members evaluating new Baltimore County developments and their open space through the lens of his internship. This presentation will be used to fuel future arguments on how new open space should be getting built. Harry, meanwhile, finished his second article (to be enjoyed next month) where he takes his case on the importance of native plants one step further. We wrapped up our internship at Ned’s favorite open space, Mt. Washington Arboretum.