Washington Middle School Outdoor Academy Class Learns About Tree Health, Utilizing Hands-On Tools
The Eighth-Grade Outdoor Academy class at Washington Middle School worked with the City of Washington Parks Department's arborist/horticulturist, Josh Wargo, learning about tree health and utilizing hands-on tools.
Outdoor Academy is an ACI (Areas of Career Interest) class at Washington Middle School.
The learning focused on real-life career skills and directly improving the WMS campus by diagnosing tree problems and actively fixing the problems students discovered.
The students pruned trees and removed invasives such as young Bradford pear/callery pear trees, bush honeysuckle, and Johnson grass. Application of learning was a highlight as students began to recognize ways they could improve their own land and community.
"I recognize some of this stuff from my house," said Gavin White, eighth-grade student. "I know we have this invasive stuff in our woods."
"This is the most fun I've had in two years of middle school," said Ian Dunn, eighth-grade student.
Prior to this project, students spent two weeks learning about forestry management and were "gifted" their own unique 1,200 acres of Missouri land to utilize management techniques recommended as best practices by the Missouri Department of Conservation.
Photos from the project are below.
