Students returning to Elmira District Secondary School next week will be greeted by a beautification project sprucing up the lawn and “U” leading to the front entrance.
![Laying stone, as part of an EDSS greening project funded by Landscape Ontario on August 27. An open house is scheduled for September. [Elena Maystruk/ The Observer]](https://www.observerxtra.com/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Post_EDSS.jpg)
EDSS, chosen for a Landscape Ontario school greening project, has seen workers and equipment onsite this summer: they’ve been offering their services to rejuvenate the space.
“Landscape Ontario picks a school that needs to look better, just tidied up. EDSS was picked out of our final three as the most needy,” said Al Murray of Murray Enterprises, who was on location as part of the crew on Tuesday afternoon.
The whole thing may look a bit dusty right now, but new water-permeable paving stones, gardens and sitting areas will soon rejuvenate the spot, workers promise. Most importantly, the goal is to create a sociable space for students while keeping the changes eco-friendly. The materials and techniques used to build the stone circles and paths will cut down on erosion and run-off while storing much-needed moisture.
“We’re trying to make as little of a carbon footprint as possible. We’re adding gardens, and the biggest thing is that we are trying to preserve the memory trees,” he said.
The front of the school, the “U,” is also home to trees planted in honour of students and teachers that have passed away over the years. Some of these, because they were sick or poorly growing will be replaced with new trees. A ginkgo biloba tree was planted on Tuesday at the front of the yard in memory of EDSS student Austin Padaric, who died of a drug overdose this spring.
Among the builders is EDSS student Philip Leeman, working with Helmutz Landscape and Interlock for the summer. He hopes to contribute to the new space.
“It’ll be nice to be able to come back and show what I was able to help with this summer,” he said while cutting stones for the walkways.
The initiative has grown to a community project that will boast new benches and armour stones for seating should students use the space between classes. While the project is funded by Landscape Ontario Horticultural Trades Association (LOHTA), which represents about 2,000 horticultural professionals and companies, local members as well as non-members have also donated aggregate, heavy equipment and trees. About 200 companies from the Waterloo chapter of the organization are involved. John’s Nursery worked with the Waterloo Region District School Board to donate two more trees.
“We want to make it a green space that the school and the community actually want to use because it was kind of dead space for a while,” Murray said.
Crews hope to have the area ready by early next month, with a grand opening and ceremony scheduled for late September.
