This school built a forest trail to honour young student killed in a car crash

When Grade 8 students arrived at Bayview Education Centre a couple of weeks ago decked in face paint and orange clothes, the teachers were stunned. The colourful display of love for Lizzi MacEachern was something the students had taken upon themselves.

"It was a way of them honouring her," said Shane MacInnis, a phys-ed teacher at the school in Port Hood, N.S. They called themselves Lizzi's Crew.

The school was celebrating the completion of Lizzi's Loop, a one-kilometre nature trail that circles through the forest adjacent to the school.

Spearheaded by MacInnis and another teacher named Bernard Cameron, the trail was a labour of love to pay tribute to Lizzi, who died in a car crash in 2021 at the age of 11.

Lizzi was known for her kind spirit, and for her love of nature and the great outdoors, which is why the school saw fit to honour her in this way. 

"It felt pretty good and also knowing it was for Lizzi was pretty special and I feel like … the work paid off," said Aiden MacDonald, an eighth grade student at the school. 

Student, staff involvement

Students decorated the trail with artwork like painted rocks and bird houses. The project even features QR code plaques that link to videos of Lizzi's classmates recounting their favourite memories of her. 

"We were part of so many decisions," said Mary Ellen MacEachen, Lizzi's classmate and friend. 

"To be such a big part of something like this, and how the result was for Lizzi, I think was super special," she said.

The school's principal, Gary Forgeron, said he arrived into his role when the plans for the trail were already underway. But he soon felt the project was worthwhile regardless of the cost.

"As soon as I took a walk on the trail and I saw the amount of work and heart that went into it, I knew that this was the right thing to be doing," he said. 

'All of our classes have used the trail'

The new area will be used as an outdoor classroom and for immersive learning for students in all grades. Even the youngest students, in pre-primary, have their own nook for learning called The Friendship Forest.

"All of our classes have used the trail.… They've done scavenger hunts for math classes. There's been work done with book walks," said Forgeron.

Lizzi's former teachers agree that time spent outdoors is the best way to remember Lizzi — among the trees where her memory is on proud display after the hard work of her friends from school.

"The class that finished up this trail was the grade eights of Lizzi's. So they had a special connection there and they just bought in ... they did some hard work," said MacInnis.

"I can honestly say that I don't remember hearing a complaint from any one of them because they knew what the job was and they did it really well," he said.