NEWPORT NEWS— A group of kindergartners got a lesson in protecting the environment Tuesday when they took a field trip to plant sea grass on the banks of the Elizabeth River.
The Deer Park students marched to the waterfront of the site where they planted fresh sea grass on the property of Kinder Morgan Terminals in Chesapeake.
Forty kindergartners, parents, and three teachers got their hands dirty and went to work. All the classes at Deer Park Elementary School in Newport News get to make the trip.
The six acres on the banks of the Elizabeth River were dedicated to the wetlands by Kinder Morgan.
Manager of the terminals Scott Shirk has a son enrolled in the school. Scott also is the program’s coordinator.
“Planting plants! Planting Plants! For what? The wetlands!” cheered Matthew Shirk, a student.
“It’s an environmental magnet school. It’s really ideal for their curriculum. The kids grow the plants in the winter and then they come out and have the chance to transplant them in a real working wetland,” said Scott Shirk.
“Good project for the kids, you know, restoring the land. They learn at an early age that it is a good thing, what the school is doing,” said Casey Sellers.
“We want to make the earth a better place,” said student Olabisi Oladipo.
“They are planting two types of wetland grasses. Spartina Alterna Flora and Spartina Peytons. The wellness grasses are great because they provide habitat and filters out pollutants. It is a great buffer and nesting area,” said Pam Boatwright of the Elizabeth River Project.
“The biggest thing Scott keeps telling the teachers to remind the kids are that this is actually something real that they are doing to help the environment. No just an example of something. We’re pretty excited about that,” said parent Rachel Shirk.
