Hands in the dirt; Entire student body at Greenback plants 614 seedlings on campus

thedailytimes.com

Over the years, seniors at Greenback School have spearheaded projects that definitely have left legacies.
Recent ones have included installing a veterans memorial, which stands near the entrance to the school.
This year, senior Alyssa Matthews said the group explored ideas on how to positively affect the environment in the wave of climate change data that’s out there.
Their culminating idea: plant trees around the school campus.
They also wanted, Matthews said, to involve the entire school, from pre-K to 12th grade. It was senior English teacher Judy Hawkins who initially issued the challenge. She had read articles on the effects of climate change and how planting trees could help reduce negative outcomes.

Hawkins came up with a plan, which Principal Mike Casteel approved.

The senior class eagerly responded, Hawkins explained. Others who joined in the community service project were biology teacher Will Burch and chemistry teacher Davey Robinson. Dan O’Neil, the school’s construction teacher, joined the team as well.
It was Chris Hawkins, Judy’s husband, who acted as the foreman for the huge task by training students on how to use the dibble bar to dig and cover the new seedlings and also overseeing their work.
Each senior had a job to do, explained Matthews. Some were assigned to hand out trees while others assisted with the actual plantings. Some, like Matthews, were needed to bring the different classes outside for their assignments.
To include everyone, even the tiniest of students, was important, Judy Hawkins said. She said it was a great experience for them to get their hands on the trees, walk them to the hole and put them in the ground to be covered up. They left that day knowing they played a part, the English teacher said.
“The senior class was out there all day,” Matthews said. “We had a schedule made where we would go pull the grades one at a time. They would come out and plant a tree. It was a nice day but a little cold.”
When the day was done, every pre-K through 12th grader had planted a tree on the Greenback campus. That turned out to be 614 new white pine seedlings. An anonymous donor provided the trees, which came from Delano, Tennessee.
It’s now their job to clean the air of carbon dioxide and provide oxygen for generations to come, Judy Hawkins said.

According to the Arbor Day Foundation, trees absorb carbon dioxide through a natural process called photosynthesis. The trees then store the carbon and emit pure oxygen.

The seedlings were planted around a practice field and also a parking lot, Matthews said. Some students now will be in charge of keeping the trees watered and alive.

All hands in the dirt

 
“I am super proud of these kids,” Judy Hawkins said. “I was pleasantly surprised when everyone showed up that morning. Every senior showed up and was dressed to work outside all day. It was exhausting for them, and they worked so hard.”
Greenback School is about seven years old, Hawkins said. It was a wooded area before the school was constructed. “We felt like we needed to reforest,” she said.
But Hawkins and the senior class hope this massive project doesn’t end here. They would love to see other schools in the area tackle a project to make a difference.
Other ways to reduce the effects of climate change include driving less, which will mean less carbon dioxide in the air; recycling more, which also saves pounds of carbon dioxide every year by recycling half of household waste; and turning off electronic devices.
“They want to keep the challenge going from school to school, student to student until this climate change crisis is just something kids will read about in history class, not something that will destroy our existence,” Judy Hawkins said.
In the beginning, these seniors were doubtful they could get it all done. “Six-hundred trees, we can’t do that,” Hawkins said they told her.
To which she replied, “Yes you can. I have a plan.”

After a successful day, the students enjoyed pizza before returning to class.

And when the day was done, Hawkins said it was awesome to look across the campus at what these hands could accomplish. “I told them we can do this and sure enough, they did.”

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1/27/20