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Youth Take Action

by KFTC Staff — last modified May-03-2006 08:14 AM

St. Francis High School Students 

Strengthen Classroom Work With Tour


St. Francis MWT

"When I first heard about the trip
to Eastern Kentucky I was
mainly interested in just getting
out of Louisville for a weekend,
I had no idea that the trip was
going to be as intense or
meaningful as it turned out to be."


Stewart Pugsley, St. Francis Student




        On April 16th, students from St. Francis highs school in Louisville, KY got an opportunity to visit Eastern Kentucky and see for themselves the devastation of mountaintop removal and strip mining.   For months now, their English and Biology classes have been studying and discussing mountaintop removal mining.

        During their tour, local KFTC members provided background history, knowledge of the culture and struggle that has been a part of these mountains since times past.   They traveled with members, Archie Fields, Larry Easterling, Jeff Chapman-Crane and Jerome Banks to an active mine site on Black Mountain in Letcher County. 

St. Francis MWT2
"To see an issue that seemed theoretical turn into a real and present problem--and to see how social status, environmental interactions, and cultural history are really far more functionally connected than their positions in different intellectual disciplines would imply- was personally and mentally refreshing for the students."              

Lizzy  Goldsmith,  Biology Teacher

                                                                                                             

        There, students witnessed reclamation failure mine sites that reached through the mountain range as far as the eye could see, they saw overloaded coal trucks hauling up and down a tiny county road and sediment ponds draining polluted water into the creeks that run through the communities at the bottom of the mountain.


"It was shocking for us to see the gluttony
of the industry and the real
affects of our dependence on coal."

 Deanna Allen, St. Francis Student


         The students also viewed the documentary Sludge, with KFTC members and filmmakers, Mimi Pickering and Robert Salyers .  The students concern for the issue not only effected them, but local community members were moved by their involvement.   


St. Francis MWT5
"They energized me!  Their involvement, idealism and youth is much needed in this struggle. This next generation needs to be the ones to carry the torch; its good to see that they are willing to do that."


Jeff Chapman Crane, Eiola Resident




Want to know more about the impact this trip had on the students? 
CLICK HERE to read a student essay by Stewart Pugsley.


If you are interested in booking a Mountain Witness Tour for your class,
please contact KFTC at (606) 878-2161 or info@kftc.org.