Tom Tolen / news@whmi.com


19-year-old Josie Morley of Brighton is a young woman on a mission. She is working to enhance the experience of visitors to the Brighton Recreation Area by creating a “Story Book Trail”.

At the same time, Morley is working toward the highest achievement in Girl Scouts - the Gold Award. According to the rules, the project undertaken must involve a commitment of 80 volunteer hours and be sustained — that is, be a permanent addition which serves to enhance the local community in some way. With some help from her stepdad, Brent Delabarre, Morley is in the process of assembling 20 of the wood posts, using plywood page holders.

Morley, who graduated last month from Brighton High School with a 4.18 GPA , is a long-time member of the Girl Scouts - an organization she has been member of since the third grade. Her high GPA is above a “perfect" 4.0 due to taking advanced placement classes.

In pursuing her project, Morley received permission from officials at the Brighton Recreation Area to construct a trail consisting of 20 “way" stations. Each stop includes a single page from a story book chosen in a contest that was open in May to Brighton Area Schools grade and middle school students. The pages will be laminated to protect them from the weather.

Entries were submitted by 10 students in 4th through 6th grades at Brighton elementary schools and Maltby Intermediate School. The contest winner was Elodie Stevenson, a 5th grader at Maltby Intermediate. The story book — about the adventures of a young girl on a river — is appropriately titled “The River”.

Jason Colbert, a ranger who oversees volunteer and scouting projects at the recreation area, is Morley's adviser. “I’m grateful to him for allowing me to do it and allowing me some creative space,” she says. She is also thankful for the help of volunteers from the Brighton Light House, who came out and helped her dig 20 holes.

The quarter-mile-long Story Book Trail will be located by the Bishop Lake boat launch near the campground. Morley will enter Michigan State University in the fall with her major in bio-systems engineering. She credits her parents — her mom, Stephanie Morley, dad, Abe Morley, and her step-dad, Brent Delabarre - for her success in school and ambition.

Morley has eight sponsors, consisting of downtown Brighton businesses. They are the Brighton Light House, Brighton Coffee House and Theater, Label Kitchen + Bar, Jackie’s Custard, The White Dress, Wallflower Mercantile, Oh My Lolli and American Awards & Engraving, which donated the plaque to be located at the entrance to the trail. In addition, Chet’s Rent-All gave her a discount on the auger she used to dig the holes.

With final approval from the DNR, Morley plans to open the Story Book Trail this Friday, July 19th.