Overview
In our second year of the Student Ambassadors for Community Health, we chose a new project in order to help accommodate for a different set of community health issues within Bound Brook. We chose to focus on physical health and food insecurity, street safety, and being inclusive towards the Spanish-speaking community within Bound Brook.
Mariposa Park
The “bulk” of our project was the revitalization of Maltex Park into Mariposa Park. Maltex Park was once very broken down and subjected to nefarious activities. Upon going to the park, there was garbage and broken bottle glasses scattered everywhere and most members of the community did not go to this park. Members of our group who lived nearby this park informed us on how most kids who lived in this area would instead play in the streets despite there being a park nearby; this was a prominent issue in this area.
This led us to revitalize the park into what it is today. As of now, we:
Re-did the pathway
Add in a free little library
Installed birdhouses
Created a storybook trail
Painted a mural at the park
Painted a crosswalk by the park
Participated in weekly classes with students in Smalley School Summer Program
Storybook Trail
A storybook trail is a series of plaques or markers set along a path which, when read, tells a narrative. We chose to install a storybook trail in Bound Brook in order to encourage more members of the community to not only participate in exercise while enjoying a story, but to also immerse them into the history, sites, and culture that makes up the beauty in Bound Brook. The story, which is available below, has been written in English and in Spanish in order to appeal to both English-speaking and Spanish-speaking communities in Bound Brook. Each part of the trail is accompanied by a 3’ X 3’ butterfly painted by local artists in Sumerset County and the state.
We chose butterflies as a way to encompass representation of our town going through a “metamorphosis”. This can be seen, not just through the Plexiglas butterflies with the trail, but on the fencing around the park, and even in the name of the park. We renamed the park “Mariposa Park”, meaning “Butterfly Park” in English. Butterflies start off as caterpillars that eventually go through metamorphosis and become butterflies. The town of Bound Brook is working in a similar way. We are currently changing and growing into something much more. Something that SACH wanted to capture in our project, thus, inspiring us to use the butterfly as a symbol for the project. As Maltex Park became Mariposa Park, there are still many new developments underway within the community.
