LVHS Students Lead Wetlands Project

A group of Loudoun Valley High School juniors and seniors got to enjoy a real break late in their school day Tuesday working on a project they designed.

The students, members of John DeMary and Liam McGranaghan's environmental exploration classes, got to enjoy Tuesday's sultry weather splashing around the Purcellville Ridge stormwater management pond as they planted aquatic species along the banks and in the pond.

The students were part of the ground-breaking ceremony for the high school's student-designed wetlands habitat, located just a few moments away from the rear of the school. The wetlands habitat will take two to three years to develop fully.

The students' project was made possible through a public-private partnership between the Newton Marasco Foundation and the public schools system. Foundation President Amy Newton founded the organization four years ago after her husband died. The couple ran an environmental company, which they had sold. Newton, who lives in Hillsboro, said she set up the environmentally focused organization as a testament to her husband's memory.

With a mission to inspire responsible environmental stewardship, Newton said she first approached the school with a view to initiating a program at LVHS, but quickly found "they were already doing it," referring to the schools' Window on the Wild garden area set up at the rear of the school.

Newton said she asked what she could do to help. The foundation is in its third year of providing assistance, through the purchase of laptops, equipment and sponsoring field trips, the latest evolution is the wetlands project.

"They are the next generation and we want make this part of their DNA, their way of life, rather than 'not just some other thing out there,'" she said. The foundation is also conducting a pilot program to revive the Rachel Carson environmental book award at high schools around the county for all 12th and 11th graders.

Purcellville Ridge, which is a Toll Brothers community in Purcellville that reaches almost to the back of the high school, has a sizeable stormwater management pond. Students pulled up invasive cattails or got down in the mud at the edge of the pond put in various plants. Almost 300 students take DeMary and McGranaghan's classes.

The project originated through a suggestion made by the Purcellville Ridge HOA that it combine with the high school on an environmental program at the pond. The idea was the brainchild of HOA board member Keith Hicks, who got board approval and brought it to DeMary and McGranaghan's attention.

When the project is completed in about three years, the pond should be a spectacular sight-planted with water plants, shrubs, grasses and flowers. Not only will it look great, but there will be frogs, birds, turtles, toads and butterflies. Most of the plants were donated, by Newton Marasco, Environmental Concert, a wetlands restoration firm, and Gardens of Delight owner Morgan May Walker, a former student of DeMary's, who helped the students put in the plants. Other companies and organizations that contributed plants or other help included the Natural Mercantile Store, the Hamilton Ruritan Club, the Town of Purcellville, Toll Brothers, Wachovia Bank and other businesses.

Purcellville Mayor Bob Lazaro, along with LVHS Principal Sue Ross and HOA representative Hicks cut the bright red ribbon for the ceremony, and Lazaro said the town would provide free trees for the project. Newton thanked the HOA for its generosity and idea, which originated two years ago and DeMary and McGranaghan who, "jumped right in," she said. When a school and the community come together, it makes for "so much more," she said.

School board representatives, Tom Reed (At Large) and Priscilla Godfrey (Blue Ridge) were equally enthusiastic. Reed praised the project as another way to link science to the real world, and one that would turn an eyesore into something beautiful; while Godfrey thought the rescuing of a natural spot that was open to the public was great. "We need more tranquil places to sit down and think," she said.