Nine years after the first Illick's Mill class wrote our project’s mission statement, our dream has been accomplished and our beloved building is finally open. There is no doubt that Illick’s Mill is, and will continue to be, a cherished asset to the city of Bethlehem. It is because of the tireless labor and creative planning of the students of previous Illick’s Mill classes, board members, and city officials that this was all possible. With so much already done, one might ask what’s next? The Illick’s Mill class of 2009-2010 is working on answering that question, and with a finished building and newly revised mission, expect many new and exciting things to come.




The first Illick's Mill Project class wrote the Project's first environmental objectives, as well as the mission statement, and researched both historical restoration, and environmental centers to help create the preliminary architectural plans. This class also came up with the idea for the first two annual event fund-raisers: The October Gala and RiverFusion. The first Gala was held on October 14, 2001. The event raised 3 thousand dollars. The first RiverFusion, spearheaded by student Keegan Lerch, was headlined by Rusted Root, attracted 3 thousand people, and raised 30 thousand dollars, not bad for 26 high school seniors. Also that year, students created the environmental village. 10 local environmental organizations provided information for activities. The 100 plants used to decorate the village were later used in a watershed planting. Students in this class, particularly Nate Picone, also created templates for future grants;

Dan Bednar started the first website, and with help from Josh Schnalzer, created the Illick's Mill letterhead and our Case Statement. Perhaps most importantly, Laurel Trautmann wrote our first large and successful grant, earning the Illick's Mill Partnership 25 thousand dollars from the Rider-Pool Foundation.

The Illick's Mill class of 2002-2003 raised significant amounts of money through grants. Ryan Werkeiser successfully completed a 90 thousand dollar grant from the Pennsylvania Historic Museum Commission and a match grant for 60 thousand dollars from the Laros Foundation. Architectural plans were completed and clean-up at the Mill began in preparation for restoration. Clayton Chiles also continued the National Historic Registry Application begun in 2001 by Michelle Longenbach and Dana Braunreuther, and for the first time, the application was considered ready to submit. On Earth Day, this class ran bird counts with the help of local elementary schools. The students, both young and old, had a great time and submitted their results to the Great American Bird Count census. This class also began significant environmental work by planting 300 native species of plants in two locations: near Municipal Ice Rink and on Monocacy Creek near the Mill.

The third Illick's Mill class, which graduated in May of 2004, also achieved many great things. Adam Longenbach, Paul Brones, and Katie McIlhaney won the Environmental Excellence Award along with 10 thousand dollars and an all-expenses paid trip to San Diego on behalf of the Partnership. Both the Gala in 2003 and RiverFusion in 2004 were considered extremely successful, earning the project 15 thousand dollars with headliners, The Ataris and Something Corporate. The native plants on display at that year's Riverfusion were planted in an environmentaly distressed area of Monocacy Creek Park.

The Illick’s Mill class of the 2004-2005 school year accomplished several goals in their year. This class replaced the rotten beams inside the mill with new ones, and in addition they replaced floors on all three levels. The class re-fitted the Mill with a new Warmboard heating system which they chose for its environmental sustainability. New exterior stone steps and an elevator shaft were also constructed. The construction work of this year was headed by Scott Edwards, Andew Werkheiser, and Zane Hayspell. The Illick's Mill Project's first environmental team was started this year, and it was organized by Brian Fritz and Joelle Nash. The class of 2004-2005 received a 50 thousand dollar grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Save Our Local Environment (S.O.L.E.) Inc. also granted the Project 26 thousand dollars to restore the Mill, which along with a 5 thousand dollar grant from the Lehigh Valley Community Foundation, helped this class reach new fund-raising records. Most appreciated were the efforts of Hannah Finelli who set this class's fund raising records by writing numerous smaller grants as well as successfully raising 10 thousand dollars through the department of Community and Economic Development. Perhaps the greatest achievement of the 2004-2005 school year was an effort that finally reached fruition after four years of work. In April of 2004, Illick's Mill was placed on the National Registry of Historic Places. The Illick's Mill class of 2004-2005 is as of date, the only high school class in history to achieve this accomplishment. The Project also earned the National Energy Foundation’s “Igniting Creative Energy” Award along with a History Channel nomination for their annual "Save Our History" award.

The Illick’s Mill class of 2005-2006 continued to conduct water tests at Monocacy Creek. They also participated in a two-day streambank restoration project. In September, the Illick's Mill students were invited to the Sustainable Energy Fair in Kempton, Pennsylvania to be presenters. They taught children the importance of sustainable energy and recycling. In October, students attended the Pennsylvania Planning Association Conference. Students toured the town of Bethlehem with professional planners from around the country and gave input on how to make the city of Bethlehem a better, cleaner place. Also held in October, was our annual Gala event. It went great; guests toured the Mill and raised 5 thousand dollars. In December, the class held the first annual Winter Solstice. At the event they had environmental craft stations where children made nature crafts and bird treats. There was also live music and the announcement of a 70 thousand dollar grant which Monocacy Creek Watershed Association and the Illick's Mill Partnership recieved from the Growing Greener Fund. The Winter Solstice raised 2 thousand dollars and brought in many new members. Installation of insulation in the roof was completed. They began repointing the exterior stone, as well as replastering and painting the exterior walls. In February of 2006, the Illick's Mill Project was awarded 10 thousand dollars from The History Channel's "Save Our History" Grant. Also, Hannae Pavlick received a grant from Save Our Local Environment. The grant was for 32,300 dollars. RiverFusion was also a great success, bringing in 12 thousand dollars. In its entirety, this class raised a total of 141 thousand dollars.

The Illick's Mill class of 2006-2007 completed insulating the Mill with environmentally friendly insulation, finished plastering and painting the inside of the Community Room, created a new website, wrote grants, organized and held events, and they took many wonderful photographs to document the Illick's Mill Project's accomplishments. Environmental work was increased that year with regular water testing and vernal pool research. Vo-tech students also framed and dry-walled all of the rooms and closets inside the Mill. The class of 2006-2007 raise the funds to purchase 19 new windows and the Vo-tech students installed them. The class also created murals and completed significant construction work inside the Classroom Center.

The Illick’s Mill class of 2007-2008 wrote 99 grants in total, which accumulates to the most grants written by a single class since the Illick’s Mill Project has been in existence! A big part of this was due to the hard work of Kaitlyn D’arcy, our most prolific grant writer. We also had extraordinary success with memberships this year, due to Meghan Fluck’s leadership of the membership and events team. This team ran the two most successful membership campaigns in Illick’s Mill history. Great photographs of work at the Mill were taken by the talented IMP student Alex Russo, and we were sad in May to say goodbye to our hardworking and unfailingly honest chief financial officer Mykal Poole. It was also tough to say goodbye to our executive secreteries, Victoria Yasso and Erin Albertson. The Illick’s Mill will be open to the public by January 2009. Through tremendous efforts, the class managed to raise over 100,000 dollars to fund nearly all of the remaining projects. This leaves only 33,000 dollars left to be raised in order to complete the Mill. They also worked hard replacing the windows of the mill, as well as the stage. The Stream Science Center located in the bottom floor of the mill is underway, and Eastern Mountain Sports has graciously donated desks that we will recycle for this room. As usual, writing grants was a major part of this class’s effort to help us reach our goal of 1.7 million dollars total for the mill’s restoration; 925,000 dollars had been raised by the end of the 2008 school year. Our funding was provided this year by many well known companies and foundations, some of which include SOLE, Mack Trucks, Nestle, BonTon, PPL Incorporated, the Century Fund, Dorothy & Dexter Baker Foundation, Just Born Inc., Embassy Bank, R.K. Laros Foundation, CMX Family Foundation, and MTV. In addition, the environmental team, led by Alexandria Hoffman, worked with a Lehigh University student to test for macro invertebrates in Monocacy Creek. Overall, the 07-08 class had an extremely successful year which put us so close to finally finishing the project.

The Illick’s Mill class of 2008-2009 had an exciting year, to say the least. If you would have happened to take a peek into the Mill room, chances are you would have seen them all hard at work either planning for the annual fall Gala, working tirelessly to book a world-renowned rock band for the spring nature and music festival, RiverFusion, or searching for the cook with the best chili in town for the Chili cook-off. Amidst from the sense of work-in-progress, you would have sensed a missing presence. The nine-year veteran advisor for the Illick’s Mill Project, Ms. Karen Dolan, was very ill and was forced to be out of the classroom and Mill for nearly three months. With her absence, senior Devin Matyus took the role as Associate Executive Director, in conjunction with the substitute Mr. John Gerber, and soon rose as the class leader. It is because of her loyalty and dedication to the Illick’s Mill Project that our Mill is where it is today, and is set for its grand opening this October. Great job Devin, and thank you Mr. Gerber! An extra spark was added to the Mill this year by Christopher Gerchman and Lauren Koch, who used their artistic talents to renew the old murals and add new works of art to our building. Samantha Miller, a 2008-2009 Illick’s Mill class graduate, must be credited for her work as Webmaster. She not only changed the look of our website, but added new links for those curious about our project and goal. Taryn Lushinsky held her own as the only girl on the Corporate Development team, and showed everyone else what manual labor was all about. The Illick’s Mill class of 2008-2009 formed a master blend of skills and talents, and used them successfully. They certainly set the standards high for the class that followed.

Current Illick's Mill Project students of the 2009-2010 graduating class have been on their toes to say the least. The year began with the threat of the possible termination of the academic portion of the class, but with the cooperation of school officials, board members, and especially the hard work of Karen Dolan, Georgia Spano, and Niha Pendurthi everything was able to go on as planned. Students have been working on various grants and are taking advantage of many fundraising opportunities with the hopes of raising even more for the Mill. In preparation for this year's Gala, members of Corperate Development helped guide the class in finishing the flooring of the community room and devoted themselves to improving the appearance of our Mill. The grand opening of Illick's Mill at our Fall Gala began with a ribbon cutting by Karen Dolan, Mayor John Callahan, and long time board member Tom Kerr. The food was fantastic, entertainment pleasant, and the mood was of pure accomplishment and joy. Recently, a full time student, Kevin Bearse, submitted for the EPA Environmental Education Grant worth $25,000. Said to be one of the project's most gruesome grants, it could fully fund the environmental center at the Mill. Jake Ludwick also applied for and won the President's Environmental Youth Award, which is a very prestigious award given to environmental projects who have given forth their best efforts to protect their community and the environment as a whole. The project is working very hard right now, and is finally starting to plan for this year's Riverfusion. Information regarding the festival will be posted as we close in on the event.

From the perspective of these writers (Illick's Mill students Adam Poole, Steph Jeppesen, Kristen Michaylira, Pete Korpics, Brian Schachter, Greg Laudenslager, Alec Redman, Samantha Miller, and Mitchell Hanna), the Illick's Mill Project is one of the greatest programs to come out of a high school. It gives students experiences and skills that no one could experience from the inside of a standard classroom. These students are motivated and determined to better their community and to be part of something that is larger than themselves. Surely, none of the students who were accepted into the Illick's Mill Project will easily be forgotten, nor will they forget the Mill and the important work that they acomplished. Illick's Mill future will unfold and soon become an outstanding environmental education center in the heart of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.