McCallie Students Plant 26 Trees, Bringing Shade to Eastside Elementary

For over two decades, the playground at Eastside Elementary in the Ridgedale community has had one glaring problem: zero shade. The playground equipment was wonderful and plentiful, but as the sun rose higher in the sky throughout each school day, the treeless plot of land would grow hot, with no shade for the students.

Or as Eastside fifth-grader Amya Mathis noted this past Saturday as she helped a 50-person volunteer crew of McCallie students and others plant 26 trees: "These trees are going to give us more shade so we'll have a place to sit and cool down. Right now, it gets too hot to go out and play. This is really helping our school a lot."

They began arriving to provide that help by 8:10 Saturday morning for a project that wasn't supposed to begin until 8:30. McCallie English teacher, lacrosse coach, and dorm advisor Eamon Thornton drove a small bus of boarding students to the Eastside campus at the corner of Lyerly and Main around 8:20.

Other organizations—most notably the Nooga Night Rotary Club—brought numerous volunteers as well. Hot coffee arrived in boxes. There were lots of doughnuts and sausage biscuits. Nooga Night member Eain Chappell brought a large pot of the most delicious bacon and cheese grits imaginable.

"I'm hoping to open a restaurant downtown called 'Grits Social,'" said Chappell, a marketing rep for Comcast. "I want to serve all different kinds of grits."

For anyone who sampled his bacon-and-cheese grits at the tree planting, he shouldn't have much trouble making his business a success.

This project, largely funded by the 52-year-old Trust for Public Land, is actually a two-year-long, $400,000 undertaking evenly split between public and private funding. Much of the private money comes from Volkswagen's eLab outreach program for schools. In addition to the trees, the project will eventually include a pavilion, a soccer field, a 3-D climbing wall, and another athletic field.

The Trust's David Johnson oversaw much of the planting on Saturday. "This is the first project like this we've done in Tennessee, but we hope to do many more."

The Trust's website explains its mission thusly: "Access to nature is essential to our happiness, health, and well-being. Yet, in the United States, about one in three people—including 28 million children—don't have a quality park close to home. We're partnering with communities and supporters to change this. Since 1972, we've created thousands of parks and protected millions of acres of public land."

McCallie got involved in the project through its McCallie Ridgedale Service Organization. A year ago, the school's students, teachers, and parents helped clean up two properties in the Ridgedale neighborhood that were in danger of being condemned. This time around, 28 students, faculty, and staff members rolled up their sleeves, donned work boots, and dirtied their blue jeans to help Eastside, which sits a few blocks north of McCallie.

And these weren't little saplings that were planted. These were mostly 10- to 12-foot trees with root balls large enough to require at least three people to position them in the ground. According to Nooga Night Rotary Club's Kurt Martig, the 26 consisted of sweet gums, tulip poplars (the Tennessee state tree), and London planes, which are hybrid sycamores.

"This is the first institutional planting we've done," said Martig. "We've done a few house projects. Having McCallie help with this is a big lift. Great to have these kids willing to get out here on a Saturday morning and work hard to help others. We really appreciate it."

Added the Trust's Johnson about McCallie's involvement: "We're only successful with good partners. These kids are providing the muscle. It means a lot to see these students' willingness to make the overall community a better place."

This is what Bess Steverson, McCallie's senior director of development and community engagement, always hopes to hear, especially when it pertains to the school's long association with the Ridgedale community.

"This is a real team effort," she said between shoveling dirt on several root balls. "It takes a group effort to plant a tree. But it's great to have so many of our students out here with a spirit of service. They want to make the neighborhood around us better."

One of those students is Mason Lovell, a senior boarding student from western Kentucky who's grown up on his family's farm. Thornton calls Lovell "our service project superstar," and the chance to plant trees was something he couldn't turn down.

"I always like to help when I can, but I've planted trees all my life," said Lovell. "We have an apple orchard and a peach orchard on our farm, so I know how to do this. Plus, planting trees reminds me of home."

Eighth-grader Henry Ryan recently moved to Chattanooga from Charlotte, North Carolina. "I just wanted to do something to help the community," he said after removing burlap from a root ball. "I didn't do that in Charlotte. It's been fun to hang out with my friends and mulch around the trees."

Westin Horton is a seventh grader from Ooltewah. "I just wanted to help," he said. "I like pushing the trees into the ground. This is hard work, but it's fun."

Referencing the ongoing severe drought while toting a large bucket of water to pour on a newly planted tree, Nooga Night Rotary Club's Sherri Babin said, "Now what would really be nice is if we finally got some really good rain."

TW Francescon '95, McCallie's senior director of alumni culture and engagement, helped plant six trees Saturday morning. "Just seeing the community come together, a real team effort," he said of what impressed him most. "We're all doing something to make Eastside Elementary proud."

Indeed, as Eastside fifth grade English teacher Meredith Webb helped with the plantings, she said, "It's incredible to see all these people come out to help our school. We are so grateful for this."

As he surveyed all of Saturday morning's hard work and community involvement from McCallie and others, Nooga Night's Martig said of the exercise of planting a tree, "Planting a tree is one of the most profound things you can do in life. Having children and planting trees are two of the few things we can do in life that will outlast us."

Especially if we ever get a really good rain.