The greenhouses at Lynnwood High School filled with odds and ends, including car parts, until Gary McLaughin arrived two years ago to fertilize the minds of students interested in horticulture.
Not only is McLaughin sharing his knowledge of the science and art of plants, but he and the students enrolled in his two beginning horticulture classes are working to improve conditions at Kayak Point Park in Stanwood.
Roger Kelley, the education program manager for Snohomish County, noticed years ago that the greenhouses at Lynnwood were not being used, he said. He asked the school if the county could use the space in exchange for providing educational services, Kelley said.
Now the county is not only benefiting from the use of the greenhouses, but it is also planting deep roots with McLaughin and Lynnwood High School.
The county’s Kayak Point Restoration Project is designed to reintroduce native plants that do not grow in abundance along the beach at Kayak Point Park, Kelley said.
With the help of Kelley and employees at the county, the students at Lynnwood have been growing three different species since January as part of a class project, organized by McLaughin and county employees. These native plants will be reintegrated along the park’s shore.
The county established nine native plant zones in the park, with each zone containing different species.
Kelley said he saw this opportunity as a win-win situation.
“We get to support education and the kids get to learn about a restoration project,” Kelley said.
McLaughin said the county has provided all supplies for the project, including 3,000 seeds, and Gwen Heisterkamp, a Washington Conservation Corps Member with Snohomish County Surface Water Management, visited the students regularly to assist and watch plant development.
McLaughin said this project helped reinforce the topics he covered throughout the class. Erosion can damage to the coast, and these plants can help reduce the effects of erosion, he said. The plants can also enrich the environment and provide nutrients to fingerlings.
This project, and others included in the course’s curriculum, have spawned an interest for many of the students. One senior plans to study horticulture at Shoreline Community College next year, McLaughin said.
“[This project] gives students real opportunities to look into horticulture,” he said.
McLaughin owned his own nursery garden centers until he decided to sell the business and become a teacher.
“I’ve always been intrigued by environmental studies,” McLaughin said, and he now has the opportunity to share his interest with students.
Also part of the curriculum of the course are lessons on landscaping and how pollution affects soil and watersheds. Some students sold plants they had grown at a plant sale one weekend in May.
The students’ plants for the restoration project will be picked up by the county soon, McLaughin said. They will be planted in the fall, and McLaughin and Kelley both said they hope the students involved will be able to take part in the planting.
Because of the project’s success, both Kelley and McLaughin said they hope to be able to continue the school and county’s relationship with new projects in future years.
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