FAYETTEVILLE -- Chris Drake looks forward to taking his Happy Hollow classes to a large pond behind the school for writing assignments, science projects and to learn how to fish and kayak.
All those activities will be possible following the completion of a project designed by Fayetteville High School students to improve the pond with a gravel path, large deck and a solar-powered aerator. Plans include working with the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission to stock the pond with fish.
A small ceremony Friday marked the project's beginning, with Michael Lindsey, director of public affairs and government relations, presenting a $14,000 check from Wal-Mart to the Fayetteville Education Foundation to pay for the improvements.
It was impressive high school students worked to solve a problem and developed a solution that will inspire and teach children about how to take care of their environment, Lindsey said.
"You take something that is not being used," he said. "You transform it into a teaching tool."
Taking children outdoors for learning allows them to work with their hands in a different environment and gives them a chance to relax and breathe fresh air, said Drake, a teacher who also acts as the campus Green Team coordinator.
"There's a different level of enthusiasm," he said.
Environmental projects are evident around the campus with a rain garden, a sensory garden and a butterfly garden. The pond sits downhill from the elementary school playground and catches rainwater as it drains.
Conversations started in the fall of 2013 about using the pond as a teaching tool, with potential lessons related to how the fish, plants and water affect each other, said Dana Smith, sustainability coordinator for the Fayetteville School District. The pond has been gated and is inaccessible. Smith approached Drew Yoakum, environmental and spatial technology facilitator at the high school, and presented the problem to his students.
"The kids wanted to put fish in there," Yoakum said.
That led to brainstorming about how to making the pond useful as an educational space, Yoakum said. The Environmental and Spatial Technology program teaches students to apply knowledge, such as in technology and building, and to work as a group to solve problems, he said.
Seniors Antonio Juarez, 18, and Gavin McGarrah, 17, were among the students who designed the project and applied to Wal-Mart for the grant. Students took kayaks to the pond in the fall of 2013 to measure the size of the pond, which is eight feet at its deepest point and is 300 feet long and 100 feet wide.
Juarez said the design required time and effort working with computer programs and 3-D modeling.
"You know a small amount of people can make a big change around our town," he said.
The project interested McGarrah because he enjoys being outdoors and has an interest in the environment. The modeling portion of the design phase was time consuming, he said.
"It excites me and makes me happy to know me and my team will leave what we build here," he said.
The project has become one of the largest projects for Fayetteville Environmental and Spatial Technology students, Yoakum said. His students will be involved in constructing the project alongside an engineer and a contractor. Yoakum hopes the project will be completed by the end of the school year.
NW News on 01/31/2015