South Meck students set up trays of plants in the elevated green roof at the school’s new Eco-Learning Lab. The students installed four different vegetation systems Saturday, Nov. 19, and will use the outdoor classroom to measure and compare growth rates and water retention. (Sarah Gilbert/SCW photo)
South Mecklenburg High School is now home to the only facility in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools where students can put what they learn in their environmental science classes into action.
Students gathered at South Meck Saturday, Nov. 19, to help install the elements of the Eco-Learning Lab, including a greenhouse, seven solar panels, a water catchment system and an elevated green roof system planted with four different types of growing media and vegetation.
“What we’re doing here is installing an outdoor workspace for our students,” Diana Shell, a chemistry and environmental science teacher at South Meck, said. “This will provide a space where our students can do a variety of labs, including analysis of soil, water, plant growth and weather. I have my environmental science class divided into eight units, and I can use this outdoor classroom for six of them, which is pretty cool.”
Students will use the laboratory to conduct hands-on experiments like tracking solar energy production rates during different weather patterns and comparing water retention using the green roof and the school’s traditional roof.
“It was really important to me that my kids come out and see what goes into building something like this,” Shell said. “I wanted them to meet people working in these fields in our community, and I wanted the community to see what these kids can do. People underestimate them. They’re so passionate about this.”
The idea for the project began more than two years ago, when Shell attended a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools sustainability workshop hosted by Tim Munson, who works in business development, sales and environmental solutions with Tecta America Carolinas, a roofing company based in Indian Trail.
“Tim put the workshop together and a bunch of environmental science teachers spent a week traveling around the county, seeing environmental technology in use, including the green roof that Tim’s company installed on the Federal Reserve building in Charlotte,” Shell said.
When a student named Yaw Amanfoh approached Shell about working on a senior exit project in the environmental science field, she shared what she had learned at the workshop. The green roof idea sparked Amanfoh’s interest, and Shell connected him with Munson, who became his senior mentor.
“Tim had wanted to do a green roof somewhere in (the district), and I came along with Yaw and his senior exit project,” Shell said. “We found the existing buildings weren’t built to support the weight of an actual green roof, so Tim came up with the idea of freestanding tables. Once we started, all of these businesses jumped in and wanted to help out.”
Eighteen local businesses have joined the effort by donating items like the solar panels, the water catchment system, growing media for the green roof and materials for building the facility.
“I think the students are going to learn more by being hands-on,” Munson said. “They’ll be able to take soil samples and go online to track the solar panels and see how they interact. The more we get them involved, the more they’ll be interested and want to be a part of it.”
The project also has found support from Dr. Greg Pillar, an assistant professor of environmental science and chemistry at Queens University of Charlotte, who is working with a team to incorporate the lab into the curriculum in a variety of ways.
“We have a lot of people who will work with us on an ongoing basis,” Munson said. “Having these people involved with putting this in the curriculum will be tremendously helpful because a lot of this is new, even to the teachers.”
Shell, who has taught at South Meck for 13 years, is eager to discover new ways to use the technology to support teaching and inspire students’ passion for science. She has former students currently working in environmental science fields, and others pursuing related majors in college, including Amanfoh, who is an environmental engineering major at the University of North Carolina at Asheville.
“The only way we’re going to make a significant difference in our environment is to start with the kids,” Shell said. “We need the kids to buy into it and become adults who buy into it. I incorporate that into my teaching, telling them that there are jobs and opportunities out there in these fields.”
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