Mansfield Senior Ready to Beautify Town

With an interest in making his home town greener, Mansfield High School senior Logan Marks knew what he wanted to do for his senior project. With the freedom to do his project on almost whatever he wanted, Marks decided that he wanted to help plant some new trees around Mansfield.

With a desire to create a beautification project, Marks is working with his project’s mentor Neil Rhein of Keep Mansfield Beautiful to help make Mansfield greener.

For the project, Marks’ goal is to make the area around the Robinson School sign, Qualters Middle School sign, and the island in the downtown area near Barrows Insurance a little more pleasant to the eye.

To spruce up the sign for the Robinson School, Marks would like to place some small plants around the signs to make the front of the schools more visually appealing. For both signs, Marks looked at plants that would compliment the signs rather than hide them or take the focus away.

“We worked with many different aspects of plants. We chose all plants that are very easy to maintain as they grow and they are very easy to water,” Marks said.

Although the Qualters School sign does have trees behind the sign, Marks was still able to come up with a plan that would again put smaller plants around the sign including two plants about two feet tall on both sides.

Looking at the island downtown, Marks mentioned the risk of having the pine tree on the island. If the tree were to grow, it would overflow on to the side walk and if something were to happen to the tree, it would fall into the street or into the nearby parking lot. Marks proposed that the tree should be removed with two similar and smaller trees to create a more simple and shorter design. 

Needing the approval of the selectmen to remove the tree, the board voted to support the project and have the tree removed.

Chairman Olivier Kozlowski agreed with the removal, stating that he would like to see trees that provide better sight lines for drivers in the area.

The selectmen voted to support the project and approve the removal of the tree with an unanimous vote.

Marks is hoping to fund his project by fundraising though local businesses and through grants that Rhein is helping him secure.