News : A Simple Request

Student pitch in to dig holes for the trees.

What started out as a simple request from Central Lutheran Principal, Jan Doellinger, developed into an award-winning project involving the entire K-8 parochial school in Newhall, Iowa.

In the late fall of 2012, Principal Doellinger approached me about leading a 3-month outdoor exploratory class for the sixth, seventh and eighth graders. After tossing around several ideas, we decided I would work with science teacher Denise Block and her students to come up with a plan to enhance a simple corridor between the classrooms and school gymnasium. That’s when the simple request grew into a complete makeover.

Students conducted several temperature readings throughout the day - inside and outside the school building – forming a baseline over several months. These were documented along with random habitat surveys around the school grounds. The students were then challenged with ways to improve the habitat and also reduce energy costs. All three classes worked together to design Phase 1 of a three-phase project. With a plan in place, students then ran it past the grounds keeper, PE teacher, Principal Doellinger, and the school board, for final approval.

A Trees Forever/Trees for Kids grant was written and awarded to the school and the planting of 52 trees took place in September of 2013. Benton County Conservation, community volunteers, and the Iowa DNR all assisted faculty and students of Central Lutheran on the big day.

The 6-8th grade students divided into teams and worked with volunteers and staff to plant, mulch and water the trees. A follow-up watering plan was also implemented to assure the trees would gain a good foothold going into winter. These students then assisted the younger grade levels with a tree planting by demonstrating the proper way to plant a tree, and explaining all the benefits that trees provide and how they would enhance their school grounds. As an environmental educator, watching these students so involved in this project was truly a monumental moment.

Phase Two of the project involves designing and implementing a butterfly garden/prairie habitat and bird feeding area in the courtyard where several berry-bearing trees were planted. This area is visible from the classrooms, and will provide additional learning objectives for the students.

Phase Three will be constructing a rain garden in an area where downspouts and land-slope are creating some constant wet areas. Again, both of these phases will be studied and designed by the students with some guidance from Mrs. Block and the Naturalists of Benton County.

If evidence of the value of Place-Based education is ever needed, this project is one that could be studied under a microscope and revel even more information than I reported. I think what speaks the loudest for the project being a success is not that the trees were planted or the fact that the school received the IAN/ICEC Sylvan Runkel Whole School Award, but instead a dialogue that took place shortly after the project was completed:

I arrived at the school and was approached by several students and Principal Doellinger. The concern was that someone had vandalized the Kentucky Coffee trees as almost all the trees had lost their leaves. Noting it was not vandalism, rather a natural occurrence, I asked the students “If a company had come in and planted the trees, would you have even noticed that the leaves had fallen off?” “No” they replied.

“So why did you notice?”

“Because they are our trees and nobody better mess with them!”

Ownership: These trees will thrive and so will the students.