About 30 middle schoolers -- pulled by teachers from their comfort zone in the classrooms of Skyuka Hall (formerly Scenic Land School) last week -- forgot their fears of bugs and dirt and outdoor work.
Pubescent concerns about appearance and acceptance also disappeared as, one after another, the youngsters became completely immersed in pulling rich dark loam over the roots of purple coneflowers, dogwoods, buttonbush and milkweed.
Suddenly, it seemed they had one collective goal: Plant a butterfly garden beside a pretty little lake that would attract and possibly save butterflies -- especially endangered monarch butterflies.
But these youngsters, and the people helping them, got more than they bargained for. Their work -- overseen by teachers and volunteers like the Tennessee Aquarium's lead horticulturist Christine Bock -- put the finishing touches on a newly constructed wetland/storm water runoff remedy. They also created a future native plant demonstration site and a community park behind the school in Four Squares on Mountain Creek Road.
Along the way, they learned about pollution and about cleaning up pollution with a little help from nature. They learned about the ecology of a natural environment. They learned about endangered species. They learned about the economics of doing what is right. And they learned about themselves.
The effort actually began four years ago when Mary Beth Sutton, a veteran biology teacher and director of the Tenne-SEA (Tennessee Student Environmental Alliance), sought and received a grant for several student demonstration/water pollution improvement projects.
One was the Mountain Creek wetlands that could double as a stormwater runoff cleanup machine for the Four Squares Center on Mountain Creek Road.
First came testing in the creek behind the former shopping center now transformed into a school and business offices. Sutton took the youngsters out with water sampling kits and showed them what happens when pollution destroys a natural stream: No life in water too toxic and too cloudy with mud for tadpoles and other water creatures to live. Teachers at the school incorporated lesson plans to augment the hands-on learning.
Then Four Squares owner Bill Raines -- a partner even at the earliest stages of Sutton's grant application -- stepped up. Ultimately Raines -- previously one the Chattanooga's most vocal voices against new city and state stormwater runoff requirements and stormwater fees -- put about $130,000 into the building of the constructed wetland that would eliminate the sediment pollution and runoff that was choking the stream.
Last week, Raines acknowledged that the students weren't the only learners involved in the project. He recalled visiting the wetlands last year to see how construction was coming along. As he stood with Sutton beside the picturesque but still not fully filled and planted pond, he saw real, wiggling tadpoles.
"Where'd this come from?" he recalls asking Sutton. "It's nature," she told him.
Then last fall as they stood again looking at the wetlands, along came a butterfly, flitting past and dipping into the water.
"Bill, do you know what that is?" Sutton asked. When Raines said sure, it's a butterfly, she told him it wasn't just any butterfly. It was a monarch butterfly. An endangered butterfly on 2,000- to 3,000-mile migration.
"I said, 'You're kidding!'" Raines said with a laugh and agreeing that it made a believer of him. "... It's nice to see a theory come together ... and neat to see things happening naturally. And beneficially."
Raines said the students at Skyuka might need one more lesson about the project -- one about the economics of it.
"It is a short-term expense and investment. But it's a long-term gain -- not only for their future and nature's future, but there's an economic return in the long-term."
Raines explained that his investment in the project will "pay out" in nine years. But beyond that, he -- as well as nature and students -- will continue to benefit. He will receive an 85 percent credit on his stormwater fees until December 2039.
"I understand [the stormwater rules and fee] a lot, lot better now, and that helps me appreciate what EPA was trying to do and why it is necessary," he said.
Still, he says what he likes best about his investment and effort was incorporating the educational component.
"It's a learning laboratory outdoors," he said. "We incorporated the school and students in the design and the planting. ... It's been a real good partnership."
Indeed.