East Courtyard is being beautified. Math teacher Kim Shuman-Smith and ILC teacher Tess Simpson are in charge of it. It was originally maintained by a few teachers in East, but after some retired, they passed it onto the Plant Club.

“We worked together to build the garden beds and sort of repurpose the space,” Shuman-Smith said.

The court will be a constant work in progress.

“The plant club has lots of ideas. For example, we want to put in a trellis and some honeysuckle or a vining plant that will climb it,” Shuman-Smith said.

They hope to plant perennials, which are plants that come back year after year, along with possibly adding a rock garden and a chicken coop.

Shuman-Smith is excited for spring.

“It will be the first time the garden beds are producing vegetables, fruits and flowers,” Shuman-Smith said.

Simpson, with the ILC department, decided it could be a good place for her students to learn vocational science skills.

“My goal is to provide pre-vocational activities like pre-horticulture and pre-gardening and to develop that into the foods and nutrition classes too,” Simpson said.

One worry is that classrooms around the courtyard could be disturbed.

“One of the things on my list is to reach out to the teachers that look into the courtyard and ask them if their class is affected when I come out,” Simpson said.