Many area residents may know about them from the Pat’s Patch store they run on campus. Some may know them from flower or fruit sales they operate through the FFA and school. Last week, the Pulaski County High School Career and Technical Education (CTE) department received word from the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR) that the agriculture program and school has been named a “Virginia Naturally Recognized School” for the 2021-22 school year.
The Virginia Naturally Recognized Schools program is the official environmental school recognition program for the Commonwealth of Virginia and is administered by the DWR. The Virginia Board of Education has also recognized the program as the official environmental education program for the state.
The goal of the program is to celebrate exemplary efforts undertaken by Virginia schools, students, and teachers to increase the environmental awareness and stewardship of its students.
This is the first year that PCHS has earned this award. As such, the school received a plaque recognizing the efforts to educate students on the environment and teach good stewardship practices. Schools who maintain and continue their efforts in upcoming years receive a pennant featuring one of Virginia’s state symbols to hang in the school. A different pennant is available each year that a school participates. Schools are also able to choose from a list of workshops that will help improve and continue their efforts.
“We are honored that the Virginia Department of Wildlife has recognized the work that Mrs. Pavan-Ballard and her students have put into the Sensory Trail at PCHS,” Megan Atkinson, Director of CTE and Governor's Stem Academy at PCHS said. “This project would not have been possible without the support of our industry partners like Virginia State Parks and Claytor Lake State Park, Virginia Outdoors Foundation, FOCL (Friends of Claytor Lake), Master Gardeners of the NRV, Master Naturalists of the NRV, Virginia Native Plant Society of NRV, Virginia FFA, Keep Virginia Beautiful, Home Builders Association of the NRV, Salem Stone Corporation, EarthKind, Red Sun Farms, and the Pulaski County Department of Tourism. These partners have supported her students' work on developing a comprehensive educational experience in the Sensory Trail. Each year students care for the current trail, which includes apple trees, Chinese chestnut trees, and various native plants. After learning about and caring for the current trail, our students get to plan new exhibits to add to the experience. This award is special, because it recognized that Pavan-Ballard and her Ag students are just getting started. I’m excited to see where they take this project in the upcoming years.”
The school has worked on several projects that have qualified Pulaski County for this recognition. Projects include the new sensory trail, located behind Pulaski County High School, the Eel Grass project the ag department is working on in a partnership with Friends of Claytor Lake, and the Trout in the Classroom project that has resulted in the successful release of trout raised in the classroom by students and then turned over to DWR staff for release in area streams.
“In all of my classes, I focus my teaching on how each individual can better themselves and their surroundings,” Ag Teacher Carley Pavan-Ballard said. “I do that by having students be a major part in big projects like the Sensory Trail, the Native Eel Grass Project and the Trout in the Classroom project. These projects are not easy and they require skills and true knowledge to be able to complete them and these students are meeting all expectations and so much more. To have this recognition is valuable because I can show these students that their work isn't going unnoticed. This shows them that their conservation efforts and their environmental stewardship truly has a purpose and the projects they are doing go beyond PCHS.”
Pavan-Ballard was also very excited and thankful for the relationships that have been formed with area experts and businesses.
“The partnerships we fostered through these projects have opened up opportunities for these students and helped connect them to careers that they might not have considered before entering my classroom,” she said. “This is only the beginning for these projects and the students involved have so many incredible ideas. It’s great to see them taking ownership of these projects while they are in my classroom even if that is for one semester. Most students are starting to realize the impact they are making on their community and the environment. The added benefit is they are finding a passion for Agriculture and Natural Resources. The skills they are learning will be utilized for the rest of their lives and most skills are what employers are looking for in a high-quality employee. I am proud of the work we have completed thus far and cannot wait to see what else we accomplish with each semester and each group of students that enter into the Agriculture Department.”