Marblehead High School will soon be receiving a revitalized outdoor classroom space, thanks to incoming senior and Eagle Scout Tyler Earp.
Since starting the project nearly two-and-a-half years ago, Earp has gotten two-thirds of the way to his goal of raising $75,000 for the project, and is hoping to complete that goal soon.
From a young age, Earp had always had an interest in the outdoors, and developed somewhat of a green thumb spending time with his uncle out in the gardens.
In Scouts BSA, there are seven ranks, with Eagle Scout being the final one. In order to obtain that rank, a scout must complete an Eagle Project. The goal of the project is for the scout to demonstrate leadership skills while benefiting the community. Earp decided to combine his passion for working in the gardens with his devotion to education.
“I wanted to do something that was more meaningful to me,” Earp said. “As a kid, I would always go to my grandfather’s and work in the garden. And I’ve always liked school.”
The site location lies to the right of the main entrance to the high school. A path leads to an outside area that appears almost fenced in by the school and the shrubbery surrounding it on the other side, with benches and a walkway that leads around the school.
For Earp, three major aspects make up the project’s entirety: building a greenhouse, replacing the two raised beds, and conservation.
The first part of Earp’s project was cleaning the area up with the help of the Marblehead Conservancy, removing invasive plants such as black locust, bittersweet, Japanese knotweed, and others.
“We got it nice, made sure the paths were clean and able to be used,” he said. “Some things have grown back so we’ll have another day where we’ll dig some stuff up.”
The greenhouse is set to be the most expensive part of the project. According to Earp, it will cost around $38,000. When built, the greenhouse will be about 16.5 feet wide and roughly 22 feet long.
Inside of the greenhouse will be the two new raised beds. Earp said that the current beds are almost 12 years old and by getting new ones, it will allow classes to grow better products. In addition, he plans to buy potato barrels and tables to provide a quality workspace.
Earp began the process when he was just 15 years old, writing grants to local school organizations like Friends of Marblehead Public Schools and the high school’s PCO, which rewarded him $10,000 and $5,000 respectively for the project.
“I was a 15-year-old kid asking for thousands of dollars,” Earp said.
Roughly $51,000 later, he is closing in on giving back to the school in a big, green way.
Not only will the outdoor classroom benefit science classes, but it will also have a positive impact on other departments. He said that any food or herbs that are grown in the greenhouse can be used for cooking classes, and biology classes can use the pea plants grown for plant-cell studies.
Art classes will also be able to come out and draw the plants, and the high school even has a nature-writing class that can benefit from using the greenhouse during the winter months.
Earp is hoping to have the greenhouse become fully operational this school year. Over the next several weeks, Tucker Architecture and Groom Construction will be helping him build the foundation. The greenhouse is expected to arrive in late August or early September, and the raised beds will begin to be replaced at that time as well.
Over the course of this summer, Earp has plans to reach out to different organizations to reach his $75,000 goal, which he is confident he will achieve. He thanked a number of school officials who have helped him with the project including Marblehead High School Principal Dan Bauer, incoming principal and current Vice Principal Michele Carlson, Superintendent John Buckey, and teachers Connor Ryan, Sara Berkowitz, Emily Sohigian, and John Herrick.