Science teachers Jason Wysong and Traci Kallhoff have recently collaborated for the planning and building of a pond, which was paid for by a $2,000 EDGE grant Kallhoff received this year.
“Ms. Kalloff got the grant and we’ve been talking about something like this for years,” Wysong said. “And we finally got the money and the approval to do it and that was very exciting.”
The idea is to open up windows to new educational opportunities and create a safe environment for students to hangout.
“One of the things that we will start immediately with is when we’re putting in plants, looking at the soil and seeing what kind of nutrients function in that soil,” Kallhoff said. “Being able to do the water testing and make sure that our water is staying healthy for the wildlife.”
Environmental Science classes and engineering students have also been contributing in the designing and constructing of the pond.
“[Engineering teacher Austin] Andrews’s class is going to be building the benches,” Kallhoff said. “My Global class and Mr. Wysong’s Global class and Environmental classes have been going out to dig out the pond and then they helped put all the rocks down.”
“I’ve had students do assignments that look like advertisements that are encouraging this to happen, selling it to admin and making sure that they are on board too,” Wysong said.
AP Environmental Science student Ana Peralta (11) is thrilled to be involved with the process as well.
“To me, it’s a really big deal,” Peralta said. “It’s something so unique and it adds to the diversity that our school is full of. It’s just really interesting to see how all of our teamwork comes together into one big project.”
Before beginning the construction process, Wysong and Kallhoff met with the district to discuss regulations for building the pond.
“We investigated the ability to run electricity to it,” Kallhoff said. “But that was cost prohibitive and there isn’t just a good quick source out there to be able to do that, which is why we’re using the solar panels which is a much better idea.”
Wysong and Kallhoff anticipate that the pond will infinitely raise opportunities for students.
“I hope that it grows. I hope that people add to it. I hope that as other animals come in, or as studies happen, we see that things need to change, or things need to grow, or things need to expand or shrink if need be,” Wysong said.
“Once it’s done, I would just love to see any class out there you know, of course science classes will be able to get use out of it, but we’re envisioning art classes going out and being able to use that area,” Kallhoff said.
A potential donation system will be set up in the future to keep the pond functioning well.
