Contact: Tammy Lane • First Posted: Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Artwork by two Tates Creek Middle School students will be used on interpretive signs and brochures promoting the newly completed Gainesway Pond project, a.k.a. The Wetlands.

Drawings by seventh-grader Kyla Kepcha and eighth-grader Mohammad Jaloudi were chosen after a campuswide contest sponsored by Bluegrass PRIDE (elementary, middle and high schools). Their work features native plants and animals in a wetlands environment.

“We are using The Wetlands as an outdoor, ‘live’ classroom often and consider ourselves very lucky to have such a development just minutes from our campus,” said Marie CC Conger, coordinator of the International Baccalaureate Programme at Tates Creek Middle School.

The Gainesway Pond project is among many the city has launched to improve water quality in local streams. The restored wetlands and the pond help the area handle storm-water runoff. The project also includes a boardwalk over the pond and a half-mile walking trail.

“It’s a unique venue for environmental education programs. I wish I’d had this when I was your age,” Mayor Jim Newberry told Kyla, Mohammad and classmates gathered Wednesday at the Gainesway Community Center.

This past summer, about 15 Tates Creek campus teachers completed a wetlands workshop to learn how to use the nearby resource for instruction – and not just in science class.

“For the whole campus, it’s a really important addition because all of our kids in all different content areas can use it for academics,” Conger said.

Coming up: A Neighborhood Field Day is set for 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday Sept. 26. Highlights will include a tour of the pond, water-quality tests, storm-drain stenciling and an exercise to show how pollutants enter the Gainesway watershed.

Archived feature article: Gainesway Pond now a handy outdoor classroom