From the Ground UP

Steve Nugent points at an aerial photo and an illustration in his classroom at Centerville High School.
“It’s a half-mile walk around there,” he says of the park and walking track behind the school a ways. “The idea was to start at the playground, and as you walk, you walk through different colors…I’ve got flower beds tilled all along the walkway, so you go from white to purple to purple-gold, all the way around, and when you come down the home stretch, that’s when you get into all the colors.”
He’s speaking of the first stages of the Centerville Wildlife Walk, an ambitious project he and his students have jumped into feet-first.
“I needed help putting seeds out,” he said. “So we bought some battery operated seeders, mixed with sand,” he said.
Nugent said most of the flowers will take up to two years to flower, which are perennials, with wildflowers. Annuals will also be planted and will reseed on their own, he said.
St. Mary Parish Recreation Dist. 7 has jurisdiction over the park, and when Nugent approached them with this idea, they expressed enthusiasm and support.
“I’ve been thinking about this for a long time,” Nugent said. “I try to do community service projects because that’s in the contract of every ag teacher. Do what the community demands of you and try to help out. That’s part of building a community, building agriculture…what mainly drove it wasn’t me hanging up working in 4-5 years, because I’ll probably keep on working anyway!”
Nugent said the nemesis of students these days is the cellphone. “Everything is instant, instant, instant,” he said. “This is long term. You’re not going to rush those little plants. Sometimes you’re not in control. That’s why we ordered a little more seed that we needed, as a fallback plan. If we have any left over, let’s do some of the other parks too. Let’s share it. You’re (the students) not going to get anything out of, except the pleasure of building it…but hopefully when they get older, those flowers will still be out there. They almost thrive on neglect.”
The plants were selected for the local area and soil. There will be a Feb. 15 volunteer day intended to involve the community in its park. “There’s a lot of lessons in growing things,” Nugent said. “I am so one-dimensional with the meat processing, I need this for my own sanity, and to let the kids know that there’s more to ag than sausage and deer meat.”
There are also plans for trees on the park grounds, with careful selection for seasonal color, hardiness and fragrance, as well as suitable plants for areas that hold water. “As you walk in you get the color, the smell, the leaf show when they change colors in the fall,” Nugent said. “Probably 40-60 trees. Everything we’ve selected is drought-tolerant.”
There are plans for benches as well. Students will tend to the walk and area, trimming branches and such as needed by the season. Nugent hopes to involve school clubs and the community.
“We really want the public to take an interest in it,” he said. “If someone wants to donate a tree, or a club wants to donate a tree to get the ball rolling, or families can donate a tree in memory of a family member.
“This is all with approval of Dist. 7. In two years’ time, people are really going to notice it and in three years’ time we’ll have flowers and trees, and in four to five years we’ll have established trees out there. I think everybody’s going to want to come out here and hang around.”
Nugent concluded, “The students need to be involved in it. Too often it’s ‘What can I get out of it?’ Well, just the pleasure of doing it, and knowing that you did a job well done and in the future somebody else can enjoy it. You take your turn.”