Linking Montgomery High School to Spring Lake and Beyond

Hello! Our names are Cameron Guenther and Tomás Mercado. We’ve been friends since elementary school, and now we’re 9th graders at Montgomery High School.

We both live close to the Greenway and ever since we heard of it almost 10 years ago, we’ve been waiting for the day it will open. We know that it’s more complex than just getting out there and building the thing immediately. There are laws, regulations, legal documents, etc., all which need to be approved, voted for, or processed in order to allow this massive change to take place. But as we start high school this year, we hope that the Greenway might become real before we graduate.

Montgomery HIgh School Viking LogoOne reason is because now we run on the Montgomery Cross Country team. Since school started, we have been car-pooling over to Spring Lake Regional/Annadel State Park for practice every day. Every day those cars are spilling unnecessary fossil fuels into our atmosphere and clogging the roads. Now picture the Greenway. A strip of beautiful, safe, green space, linking the Montgomery High campus right to Spring Lake and Annadel. We could run to practice instead of making our parents drive us. Even if that may not happen before we graduate, we invite you to think of future runners, in future generations, where the Greenway could make cross country practices safer and more convenient, benefiting both the individual health of the athletes and the overall strength of the team.

Not only would it benefit local schools, but due to it being bordered by many housing units, it would give some of the apartment complexes a massive, shared backyard of sorts. Like the Central Park of Santa Rosa. We hope this dream can become a reality for all of us as well as future generations to enjoy together.