The school’s structural renovation? Done. New dual flush toilets? Done. Water bottle filling stations even? Done. One would be led to believe that the renovation here at Liberty is finally over, that we’re ready to leave construction behind.
And we can. Because it’s finally here.
And although it’s still just a spider’s web of steel wire, Liberty’s very own green wall now adorns the wall between the 500 wing and the lunchroom. Green walls are structures designed to house plants vertically, being fed water and nutrients from behind the structure.
The story behind it really begins last year with Liberty alumni Timothy Johnson and Noelle Rauschendorfer, students in science teacher Mark Buchli’s Independent Research class who worked to get the green wall built at Liberty.
Johnson recalls that lobbying for the green wall wasn’t an easy task.
“The companies that we’d contact and the adults we’d try to get a hold of didn’t always respond because we were just kids,” Johnson said. “It was really frustrating.”
After months of petitioning, and with the additional help of Buchli, however, plans for the green wall were laid. The wall will serve dual aesthetic and educational purposes at the school.
“My hope for the green wall is that it will be used for learning and modeling scientific systems. It should help students to apply and understand the material that they’re learning in classes like Biology and Chemistry,” Johnson said.
But for Johnson, the green wall’s purpose extends even beyond the classroom.
“I think it’s fitting, that at the end of all this renovation, Liberty has something to call its own—something that’s unique to the school,” Johnson said. “The green wall is just that.”