Eighth-graders Build Garden For Elementary Schoolers

The grassy courtyard at Frances Hazel Reid Elementary School in Leesburg has never been used much, and except for a couple picnic tables, the space has always been pretty bare.

But that’s all changing thanks to technology education students from next-door Smart’s Mill Middle School who have launched a beautification project for the courtyard.

Eighth-grade technology education students in Dale Zeman’s classes at Smart’s Mill are working to create a garden there to grow flowers, fruits and vegetables.

The students started in late fall unloading pallets of flagstone, which is being used to create stone flower boxes around the courtyard.

The students are doing the work themselves, from planning and measuring the design of the flower boxes to building the stone walls.

“[Zeman] teaches us how to stack the stones the right way and how to line them up,” said Bryan Lette, 13. “It’s fun and productive. I get really excited for this class just for the chance to work outside.”

The approximately 75 eighth-graders in technology education start their day in the workshop, then walk over to the elementary school where they perform their work under the supervision of their teacher.

“We each get split up into groups,” said Kody Kern, 14. “I’m actually much more productive outside. It’s more hands-on and you learn more.”

On a recent day, Kody and Charles Barnhouse, 13, worked on one part of the stone flower boxes, carefully selecting stones, lining them up and then testing the wall to make sure it didn’t wobble.

Zeman said teaching hands-on skills is the purpose of these building projects, which he’s been doing with his eighth-grade classes for the past six years.

Some of the other projects included the courtyard at Smart’s Mill, a waterfall and stone wall in front of the middle school, split-rail fencing, a nature trail, bird houses and a concession stand.

“In a classroom, you get some hands-on experience, but doing things like this will teach them skills they can use later in life,” Zeman said. “They can do things for themselves instead of having to rely on someone else.”

He said his students, mostly boys, enjoy the outside work and they are proud to learn things they can take home to show their parents and friends.

The project this year with Frances Hazel Reid got started after the principal there, Brenda Jochems, saw the completed projects at Smart’s Mill and was impressed.

She submitted a proposal for the courtyard work and had it approved by the School Board.

“It’s going to be a children’s garden so there will be a lot of crops like blueberries and strawberries,” she said.

There will also be corn, beans and squash, along the lines of a Three Sisters Garden like American Indians used to plant – as the students learn in school.

“We wanted it to be green and incorporate some lessons from the [Standards of Learning] tests like the growing cycles,” Jochems said.

The flagstone for all the projects has been donated or sold at cost by Meadows Farms Nursery in Leesburg.