A science teacher and an English teacher might sound like an unlikely duo to embark on a pretty intense outdoor project. But for former Belmont Middle School teachers Tim Lamendola and Greg Wood, the pairing was a natural fit.

The two have worked over the last two years, with 18 of their seventh- and eighth-grade advisory students, to help clear a roughly mile-long trail behind the school, hoping that it can be used for educational purposes, for cross country races and general enjoyment of the outdoors.

This school year, the work ramped up. Almost every Friday, Lamendola, Wood and their students headed out with rakes, chainsaws and other tools to get to work.

“It was a great opportunity to see the students engage in community service on more of a permanent, weekly basis and not just on these days that we carved out for those types of activities,” Lamendola said. “And the students really enjoyed it. A lot of them were excited every single Friday to get out there and get going. Sometimes they wanted to go out multiple days a week as well, and a lot of them had a lot of fun too. ...

“Some of them had never used some of these tools, so it was great to see them learning from each other, learning from us, just getting their hands dirty and having a good time.”

Wood also viewed it as a valuable confidence-boosting experience for the students.

“These kids really took to it,” he said. “I just think that it built up their confidence so much to be able to produce something that was worthwhile, that they could see progress every time that they went out there and really just built up their confidence. The kids did just a fantastic job.”

Before their work began, part of the trail was virtually unusable. It was grown over, with stumps and shrubs scattered around. Now, after lots of hard labor, the school has access to the space.

Last November, BMS held part of its annual “Gobble Wobble” race on the trail, and in the winter they used it for a snowshoe course.

“It actually was utilized by big portions of the school, which is just great because the kids, they could see the trail, but when people were experiencing it, I think it brought them a lot of joy,” Lamendola said.

Both teachers have since departed the school district — Lamendola will be working at Rundlett Middle School in Concord and Wood at Inter-Lakes Middle School in Meredith. But, Lamendola noted, he’s hopeful the trail will provide useful educational opportunities for future students. They’ve even discussed adding plaques around some of the trees to help with tree identification as part of the school’s seventh-grade science curriculum.

Meanwhile, for the students involved in the months of work that it took to clear the trail, both Lamendola and Wood know it will make a long-lasting impression on them.

“In school, we ask kids to work and work and work, but they don’t ever see the immediate results of that work,” Wood said. “Working on something like the trail allows them to see that right in front of them. The fact that the trail was put into use throughout this year allowed them to get compliments from their friends, to get compliments from their teachers. It gave them that immediate sense of pride which, they can then carry forward with them to know that when you put in a lot of hard work, the results are there, that it is worthwhile.”