BAY MINETTE, Ala. - Students in the Outward Bound program built fences and helped clean Baldwin County Bicentennial Park last weekend for winter planting.

Today, they are landscaping and removing weeds and limbs from  the park’s memorial site in anticipation of 9-11 services, slated Sept. 11.

In about three weeks, students in the Girls’ Wilderness Camp will build stockades, prepare ground for planting and harvest what they sow, taking a small bounty of collard greens and winter peas for their own, and sending the rest to food banks for the county’s needy citizens.

The project, approved by the Baldwin County Commission, is a literal and figurative effort for volunteer, at-risk students to recognize and enjoy the fruits of their labor, according to organizers.

Park director Nick Warren said the program’s intent is to promote self confidence, self esteem and self reliance for students who volunteer .

“Most of these kids are at-risk, but are not bad kids,” Warren said. “They have made bad decisions.

“We want to put them in touch with themselves. They will earn a sense of accomplishment. They plant and watch it grow. It’s exciting for them to eat what they grow, and to know that needy families will benefit from the harvest.”

The Outward Bound students are from throughout the nation and working on relationships with families, character development skills, leadership and service during the 20- to 28-day program, according to Meg Peterson, director of the program.

“Families will join their children and participate in a three-day seminar and will be taught the same communication skills as the students,” Peterson said. “The park project is a way for them to leave something tangible.”

Warren said students at the girls’ camp will extensively extend gardens at the Indian village, built a stockade, then plant winter vegetation.

“There will be classes in fauna, flora and history of the way of life during various periods of Baldwin County’s history,” Warren said.

Warren said when basic farming is taught, he plans to make nurseries at the park so students can take the plants back to the camp and teach skills to other girls.