Hoosac Student Compiles Data to Better Understand Adams Tourism
Corey Charron is a senior at Hoosac Valley in the environmental studies pathway.
Corey Charron, a senior at Hoosac Valley High School, gave the Selectmen on Wednesday a presentation of data he'd pulled from the center's log books.
"Our goal was to obviously analyze the thousands and thousands and thousands of entries that we have, and how to make sense of them, like understand what they all mean and what their purpose is," he said. "I put them onto a Google Sheet, where I was then able to sort through them and see where people are from, how many people are coming, what they think of the Visitor Center and just of our town in general."
The numbers have been rising year to year with the highest numbers not surprisingly in June, July, August and September.
"People have come from 22 countries to visit our small town, which is awesome," he said. "Just even within the states, we've seen 41 states out of 50. And 254 towns out of the 351 in Massachusetts have all been accounted for."
The top two visitor origins were Brooklyn, N.Y., and Naples, Fla., and the majority of visitors came from the state of Florida, New York, Vermont and, oddly, Arizona.
The visitor who traveled the farthest was from Canberra, Australia, a 23 1/2 hour flight away. They came last September, and, Charron, said, "they left a very positive review, highlighting how interesting they thought our town was."
The majority of the visitor entries were positive but there were some negative comments, he said, and "those negative ones do help us understand what we can fix and what we want to fix."
"People love our rails, trail, the train rides and the overall very welcoming atmosphere of our town," Charron said. [The Ashuwillticook Rail Trail] adds a great level of interconnectedness, from Adams to the rest of Berkshire County, the rest of Northern Berkshire County, but they suggested that we get some more seating areas along the trail."
Visitors also thought the trail needed to be kept cleaner and while they enjoyed the Berkshire Scenic Railway, some thought it expensive and too short a ride.
Charron, who is the school's environmental studies pathway, took on the task of compiling the data at the request of the community roundtable that's been meeting the last four years at the Visitor Center.
"Our purpose was initially to open the lines of communication between the groups. We were all doing the best to enhance the health and prosperity and quality of life in Adams," said Carol Cushenette of Adams Events, who introduced Charron. "But what was missing was that we weren't doing it together, so all of the events were overlapping, and so we decided that it should be a little more coordinated."
Some 19 groups have been meeting monthly to share projects, programs, grants and resources. One of their efforts has been to engage the Visitor Center and each group now takes a weekend to staff the center during the May-October season, with volunteers filling in the gaps.
"We have a visitor signing book at the front desk, and Pat Catelotti has been entering all of those for years and years and years, and the data has gone nowhere," said Cushenette.
The group was looking for high school students to take on the task of compiling the data from the guest book and Charron answered the call.
"We look at the negative, and we know we can learn," he said. "How do we improve the negatives so that people don't have negative thoughts about our town?"
He and Cushenette came up with the idea of creating a committee that would look at the logs from the Visitor Center, Greylock Glen Outdoor Center, and wherever else they could be put, and look through that data, analyze it and "actually do something about it."
The Selectmen reacted positively to the idea, with Selectwoman Christine Hoyt saying it was a "wonderful recommendation." She also expressed her gratitude to Cushenette and the other members of the roundtable for stepping up to keep the Visitor Center open when the state withdrew the funding.
"I know that there are some different groups that sit at the round table, that Carol organizes, that have done some way finding, some brochures, some different website things to try to make the experience better for our visitors when they come," said Hoyt. "But it sounds like there are even more things that we can be doing, and I hope that maybe you'll have a seat on this committee to help those conversations."
Cushenette said Charron has been have invited to become a student representative on the round table.
"He's been adding a lot of value, and I think making some really good connections and collaborating with a lot of the nonprofits to get some things done," she said. "Corey said to me when I first met him that his goal was to raise $10,000 this year for nonprofits in the community. He's exceeded that goal, and he's raised $25,000."
Selectmen Joseph Nowak had managed the Visitor Center for the state for five years and said he was impressed by the presentation. The center had tracked visitors at that time, too, so there should still be some information from "way back," he said.
Tags: HVHS, tourism, visitors center,
