Fifth grade Ellwood City Walking Tour fun for all

Last week, over 300 fifth grade students from Ellwood City, Riverside, and Holy Redeemer got the chance to experience the ins and outs of their hometown during the first ever Ellwood City Walking Tour.

Students listen attentively while State Rep. Jaret Gibbons talks about his job.

Put together by numerous members of the Ellwood City Chamber of Commerce, the Walking Tour was made possible with help from community members, borough and school officials, teachers, veterans, and other borough residents.

One of the individuals who helped make the walking tour a success was David DeCaria, chamber member and creator of the PIE (Pride in Ellwood) campaign.  DeCaria was present at Monday night’s council meeting and he spoke to the council members regarding the successful event.

“I want to publicly thank everyone on council, the mayor, police chief, borough manager, and everyone else who helped make this (walking tour) a success,” said DeCaria.  “It goes to show that when everyone does a little, a lot of can get done.”

The walking tour consisted of 11 groups of students. Each group visited 11 different stops around Ellwood City for 12- to 14-minute presentations from 9 a.m. until 1:30 p.m.

The students focused on four areas of educational significance: civics, environment, history, and science.  At each stop, the tour had an expert on hand for a short lesson.  Some of the stops along the way were the police station, fire station, historical society, and war memorials, to just name a few.

During their stop at the Municipal Building, the students visited Council Chambers, where monthly meetings of the council take place. Council President Anthony DeCarbo and several other council members were present to speak with the children.

“All the kids were very well behaved and asked a lot of informative questions,” said DeCarbo. “It was fun for all of us.”