What was once a decent-sized patch of desert littered with dense brush, trash and other debris, has been transformed into a community park for all to enjoy.
On Saturday, May 4, students and faculty members from Pahrump Valley High School descended on the site christened as Trojan Park, along East Wilson Road for a special 10 a.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony along with members of the community.
Construction on Trojan Park began back in 2018, as part of the high school’s National Honor Society’s project.
Pahrump Valley High School senior Sabrina Jaynes is one of 31 students in the honor society.
Jaynes spoke about how the project, which features an 11-hole disc golf course, came together.
“About 40 years ago, the ground we are standing on, was assigned the role of being a track for the students who attended the school that was on these grounds,” she said. “Only 10 years ago, I was hopping off my school bus to attend my fourth-grade class at Manse Elementary School. Now we are hoping this will be a place not just for children, but for the entire community to enjoy. This project was fore-fronted by the Youth WERKS program at NyE Communities Coalition, which is a program dedicated to the betterment of the youth.”
Local residents and businesses can also sponsor tees or benches along the course for $150.
The students, led by the coalition’s Jesse Tarver, Jaynes said, cleared out all the debris which had been collecting on the grounds for many years.
“They outlined the one-mile walking path, and placed in the original disc golf poles,” she said. “Without their fundamental work, we would have never been standing where we are now. At the beginning of this school year, the National Honor Society was allowed the opportunity to pick up this endeavor for our community service project. Through the work of our group during endless hours on the weekends, we managed to clear out the remaining debris on the land, mostly by using our muscles and a few wheelbarrows.”
Following the initial cleanup of the land, the students then proceeded to create a walking path on each individual hole and tee.
Benches created by the high school’s wood shop class also adorn the grounds of Trojan Park.
Jaynes gave thanks to additional individuals for their respective efforts.
“I would like to recognize Virginia Weir, our secretary, as well as Mindy Broderick, our treasurer,” Jaynes said. “Both of these ladies, as well as all members of the National Honor Society, have put in a tremendous amount of time just to be here today. It is a great pleasure of mine to be able to be here with each and every one of you for this monumental moment in time, for the town of Pahrump.”
It appears that Andrew Norton, a physics instructor at Pahrump Valley High School, was the first to hit the desert links, along with his young son, Elijah.
“We are very excited about this,” Norton said. “We just moved out here from Montana to teach, just last year. My wife teaches at Floyd Elementary School.”
Norton also noted that he, his, wife and kids are all disc golf enthusiasts.
“The college that we both graduated has a disc golf course on the actual campus grounds, so we would disc golf, especially during the summer, two or three times a day up in Montana,” he said. “To come down here and discover that there was no disc golf courses was disappointing, but when we learned about Trojan Park, obviously we were all excited about it because we have all these discs but had nowhere really to play, unless we wanted to drive into Las Vegas.”
As for the game itself, Norton said it’s quite similar to the traditional game of golf.
“As far as rules of disc golf and kids, it’s whatever they want to do,” he said with a laugh. “There are drivers, there are mid-rangers and putters. You count every single shot and you have different discs for the different tees. There are principles of physics that go along with disc golf, to keep your discs in a straight flight. We will be out here quite often.”
Also during the event, Electra Skrzydlewski, a representative from Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez Masto’s office, was on hand to cut the ribbon and hand-deliver certificates of recognition to the students in the school’s National Honor Society for their respective efforts in creating Trojan Park.
Contact reporter Selwyn Harris at sharris@pvtimes.com, on Twitter: @pvtimes