{"id":572,"date":"2014-02-20T18:47:03","date_gmt":"2014-02-20T18:47:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/?p=572"},"modified":"2014-02-20T18:47:03","modified_gmt":"2014-02-20T18:47:03","slug":"students-start-initiative-in-hopes-of-rediscovering-sinking-spring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/2014\/02\/20\/students-start-initiative-in-hopes-of-rediscovering-sinking-spring\/","title":{"rendered":"Students start initiative in hopes of rediscovering Sinking Spring"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Rachel West<\/strong> –\u00a0Managing Editor<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>A Centre student is teaming up with Centre professors and administrators to spearhead a project in an attempt to rediscover the Sinking Spring area of campus. The Sinking Spring, though few students know it as such, is the trench along West Main Street that features a small stream with a bridge, trees, and a stone bench.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sophomore Gray Whitsett, Chair of the Student Government Association (SGA) Campus Improvements Committee, became interested in the Sinking Spring when he was on Centre\u2019s campus as a high school student taking part in the Governor\u2019s Scholars Program. \u201cI thought this could be a really neat little area of campus, but it seems like it had kind of become just a little swamp. That always left a bad taste in my mouth,\u201d Whitsett said.<\/p>\n

\"Sinking<\/a>
Sinking Spring, one of the two original springs of Danville, is part of a new rennovation project headed by sophomore Gray Whitsett<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Thus, when Whitsett became the Chair of the Campus Improvements Committee, he knew that he wanted to somehow \u201crediscover\u201d the Sinking Spring area. \u201cI knew it would be really ambitious, but it would be something really meaningful to try to change on campus. It\u2019s lasting and visible,\u201d he said.
\nWhitsett sought out the advice of several professors and administrators to learn more about the project, one of whom was Dr. Milton Reigelman, J. Rice Cowan Professor of English and Director of International Programs, who also serves as Chair of the Campus Landscape Committee. Reigelman was very excited about the project due to the historical importance of the Sinking Spring. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of myth and legend surrounding the spring,\u201d Reigelman said. \u201cLegend has it that was discovered by Kentuckian Daniel Boone, and that he camped by it for a night.\u201d
\nAccording to Reigelman, the legend was pervasive enough that Jane Morton Norton, a Louisville businesswoman for whom the Norton Center is named, commissioned a statue of Daniel Boone that was meant to be placed so that the statue was always looking toward the spring. The statue still resides in the Norton Center.
\nWhitsett takes it a step further, saying that the Sinking Spring \u201cis one of the two springs that the city of Danville was founded around, when it produced a lot more flow.\u201d It makes the project even more important to Whitsett, because he considers guarding the spring a duty that has been entrusted to the college.
\nWhitsett has been working with Reigelman, Dr. Preston Miles (John C. Walkup Professor of Chemistry), Jeanette Bush (leader of the campus landscaping staff), and Mrs. Susie Roush to develop a plan to move forward with the project. Miles said that he and other Centre leaders were interested in the project because it fits with the college\u2019s educational goals. \u201cAn educational institution\u2019s goals are advanced largely in classrooms, but also on playing fields and social settings. They can also be advanced by our physical landscape. Our campus is part of that educational and learning process,\u201d Miles said. \u201cI love our campus, but we don\u2019t have a lot of purely natural areas.\u201d
\nThe first step for the group was seeking a professional opinion about the general health of the spring. They sought the opinion of the state hydrologist, who came to campus and examined the spring. According to Whitsett, the hydrologist found that the flow is splitting off, causing the Centre site to get less water than in the past. Still, according to Miles, the news from the hydrologist was promising. \u201cThe hydrologist really just encouraged us to go forward [with the project]. He had no safety concerns. In fact, he was very supportive about the project because it will provide a protection for a waterway,\u201d Miles said.
\nWith the hydrologist\u2019s support, the group met with the Campus Landscaping Committee and a tentative plan was drawn up. According to Whitsett, the current plan is threefold. The first and most important step is to reinforce the retaining wall that is around the spring. \u201cIf it collapses, it could damage the spring, which is really sensitive,\u201d Whitsett said.
\nAfter the retaining wall is reinforced, the next step is a general cleanup and reconstruction of the area. The road right next to the spring has limited the amount of natural rainwater runoff that used to contribute to its water source. According to Whitsett, there is also a lot of pollution in the spring. \u201cLandscaping did a clean-out of the spring last year and found lots of trash and bottles from as far back as the 1970s,\u201d Whitsett said. According to Whitsett, this step would also include doing everything possible to \u201ceffectively and responsibly\u201d restore the flow of the spring and perhaps build a springhouse that would hold the currently existing memorial to a former Centre student.
\nThe final step would be to turn the area into a place in which Centre students can study and learn. This might include picnic tables, a space for native plantings, and a location set up for classes to study the water quality of the spring.
\nThe project, according to Whitsett, is currently stalled at the point of attempting to find the funding that will be necessary to enact all of these plans. According to Miles, this is a problem the campus has faced before. There were plans to do work on the Sinking Spring in the past, most notably in President Roush\u2019s first year on campus, but \u201cwe didn\u2019t have enough resources or time to make it happen,\u201d Miles said.
\nEveryone involved is working to solve the problem of funding. For Reigelman, this is a very valuable project that the campus should focus on moving forward. \u201cIt stands out because of its different character,\u201d Reigelman said. \u201cAs you walk down to it there are a number of memorial trees to some of Centre\u2019s great faculty. It\u2019s a sacred approach to get to the area and to walk by or under the trees dedicated to my colleagues and friends.\u201d
\nWhitsett concurs about the importance of the project. \u201cThere is, really, an unempirical sort of value to the spring,\u201d Whitsett said. \u201cIt has definite historical and intellectual value. In a way, Centre has been entrusted to keep it safe and keep it maintained, and in some respects we\u2019ve let that down.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Rachel West –\u00a0Managing Editor A Centre student is teaming up with Centre professors and administrators to spearhead a project in an attempt to rediscover the Sinking Spring area of campus. The Sinking Spring, though few students know it as such, is the trench along West Main Street that features a small stream with a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":573,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}