![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Holy-Trinity-Rain-Garden-01-1100x732.jpg\")
<\/p>\nPennsylvania Outdoor Corps participant Phoenix Irwin, 16, of Hollidaysburg spreads mulch at the Holy Trinity Rain Garden along Fourth Street and 25th Avenue in Altoona on Monday afternoon.
\nMirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski<\/p>\n
Local students working with the Pennsylvania Outdoor Corps rolled up their sleeves Monday afternoon to clean up the Holy Trinity Rain Garden.<\/p>\n
Part of the Student Conservation Association, the corps partners with the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to provide students ages 15 to 18 with paid, summer opportunities to gain job-readiness skills and pursue careers in environmental conservation. <\/p>\n
Altoona\u2019s first youth corps was established in 2016, according to regional program manager Quinn Heist, who oversaw the participating students Monday. The program eventually expanded to an adult corps for young adults ages 18 to 25, he said.<\/p>\n
Heist said that DCNR has a mission to engage underserved communities and connect future generations to Pennsylvania\u2019s nature. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a responsibility to reach out to them in the communities, where they live \u2026 let them know that these resources are here, and train them on how to take care of these resources in the future,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Pennsylvania Outdoor Corps participant Sean Hauck (left), 17, of Altoona and leader Caitlin Stone spread mulch at the Holy Trinity Rain Garden along Fourth Street and 25th Avenue in Altoona on Monday afternoon.
\nMirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski<\/p>\n
A nonprofit community organization, Wild Ones, Pennsylvania Ridge & Valley Chapter, recently reached out to DCNR about working on the rain garden and a few other city parks that are state funded.<\/p>\n
Wild Ones Vice President Jordan Sesame Wild said he was searching for some help with the rain garden, specifically to weed out invasive plants and make way for Pennsylvania\u2019s native plants. <\/p>\n
\u201cOtherwise, they\u2019ll be consumed by the invasive vines that strangle plants and just make it hard for the native plants to grow because they\u2019re still young,\u201d Wild said. <\/p>\n
The rain garden is the Pennsylvania Outdoor Corps\u2019 first stop this week. They plan to work at Reciprocity Food Forest today and Wednesday and at Duncansville Memorial Park on Thursday. Friday is their designated education day.<\/p>\n
Wild believes it\u2019s important to teach young minds that they can harvest food and medicine from native plants and herbs, taking advantage of the resources in their backyards. <\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Holy-Trinity-Rain-Garden-05-1100x733.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Pennsylvania Outdoor Corps leader Ryan Salyards watches participants Cori Desch (left), 17, of Altoona and Ava McMullen, 18, of Ebensburg fill a wheelbarrow with mulch at the Holy Trinity Rain Garden along Fourth Street and 25th Avenue in Altoona on Monday afternoon.
\nMirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski<\/p>\n
Monday afternoon, Wild was seen working on the land alongside four students and two corps leaders, including Caitlin Stone of Newton Hamilton. <\/p>\n
Although she only worked on Prince Gallitizin State Park\u2019s landscape last week, she said she already learned a lot about the commonwealth\u2019s environment, including its native plants, the natural remedies it offers and gardening tools. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt makes me appreciate outside a lot more,\u201d she said, noting that the hard work it takes to keep up parks and gardens gives her a new perspective. <\/p>\n
Working with nature was also an upside for Hollidaysburg Area student Phoenix Irwin, 16, and Altoona Area student Cori Desch, 17.<\/p>\n
It was Irwin\u2019s second year participating in the Pennsylvania Outdoor Corps because he enjoyed his previous experience working with the organization last summer. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou get a different experience outdoors,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Desch was pleased to see how the rain garden appeared after a day\u2019s work laying down new soil and pulling weeds.<\/p>\n
It was the teamwork aspect of her experience that spoke out to Desch on Monday. <\/p>\n
\u201cNot working by ourselves, but we\u2019re all working together and talking with each other,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Community member Steve Elfelt stopped by the rain garden Monday afternoon and supported the work done by the corps, Wild Ones and DCNR. <\/p>\n
He said that the local rain garden helps control stormwater flooding. <\/p>\n
If people don\u2019t understand how nature makes our community possible, then nature will stop making our community possible, and we won\u2019t have a community, he said. <\/p>\n
Understanding that connection, he said it\u2019s important to start kids young and encourage them to interact with the world around them. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe young people out helping, they\u2019re investing in their community, they\u2019re learning skills, they\u2019re developing a work ethic,\u201d Elfelt said. <\/p>\n
\u201cSince they\u2019re putting sweat equity into places like this, they\u2019re more likely to care about this and other places like this as they turn into adults and have their own kids,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Mirror Staff Writer Colette Costlow is at 814-946-7414.<\/p>\n
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