Two tackle tomatoes and tubers for combined senior project

Last Thursday morning, seniors Jamie Early and Kendra Meissner lugged a crab pot filled with their books through the halls of Wrangell High School. It was part of Spirit Week and "Anything but a backpack" day.

It was a combined effort between the cousins, much like many other things they do, including their senior project.

Early, 18, and Meissner, 17, decided in October to tackle the Evergreen Agricultural Testing Site (EATS) garden for their project, cleaning up weeds, preparing soil beds, building grow towers and even building a larger-volume composter for the elementary school.

According to Evergreen's assistant principal Jenn Miller-Yancey, the garden was meant to be part of the educational process.

"The founding group (30 years ago) wanted it seen as an educational site where anything could be tried out and students could dig," Miller-Yancey said. "EATS' focus is creating a space that kids can dig in and fall in love with growing."

That's exactly what Early and Meissner had in mind when taking on the site for their senior project.

"One of our main goals in this is to get other kids interested in it, too, just making it interesting for elementary students," Early said. "We usually stick to fourth and fifth graders."

Meissner added, "We had some second graders, too. I think they look up to older kids a lot. They look at us as role models, so anything they can do with us I think they just enjoy it, being around older kids."

The project including cleaning up the site to prepare it for spring planting, building seed towers, composting boxes and soil beds, and growing seedlings to transplant to the beds. They've begun growing peas, radishes, lettuce, tomatoes, potatoes, broccoli and peppers. Some things, however, have not turned out as they'd hoped.

"The herbs were not growing well at all," Early said. "We put together this grow tower that supposed to water everything for you. The lights turn on and off at a certain time, and we'd get everything sprouted. I don't know if we transplanted soon enough. It was a really great idea to use in theory, but it never worked for us."

"We had to replant it three different times, and it didn't help that we were using expired seeds," Meissner said. "It just caused a lot of issues."

But it was issues like that which served as an education for Meissner and Early.

"We've had to come from a million different viewpoints, try different projects, grow different plants, just to see what works," Meissner said. She said her interest in science, which she gained from teacher Heather Howe's class, aided her in research to help solve whatever problems - like proper pH and nutrient levels - came up.

"And if you don't succeed, try again and again and again," Early said. "And try to tweak it every time you try something new, and not just trying the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome."

Both teens admit they are independent and stubborn but, thankfully, they have always worked well together, which makes the process of the project much easier.

"Initially, we knew we were probably going to do (our senior project) together, and we wanted to do the Parks and Rec basketball, but that just wasn't possible with our schedule - we're both busy athletes," Early said. "We heard that Jenn (Miller-Yancey) needed help, and we took the opportunity and ran with it."

Meissner said they've almost always teamed up where they could. Even though senior projects are meant to focus on what an individual student has learned by contributing to the community, high school assistant principal Bob Davis said the partnership isn't against the rules.

"If they team up, the project basically needs to be twice as much as a single student," Davis said. "It's roughly 30 hours' worth of work, so between them, it has to be about 60. I think that's a great skill. Most jobs nowadays are collaborative. I think they're learning to work together."

Though they're working on the project together and they'll give an oral report that includes a sideshow and discussion, Meissner and Early will have to turn in individual written reports to complete the assignment. And even if they don't get to see the outcome of their work, it will have lasting results.

"The ladies may not realize it, but everything they've worked on this year has helped keep students' hands in soil over the winter months and has kept them motivated on the topic of gardening," Miller-Yancey said. "Ms. Early and Ms. Meissner are simply great humans. They are fun, smart and motivated, which are great qualities for people who are going to spend time in an elementary school with students."

After graduation, Early and Meissner will continue doing things together, including going to Idaho for college. Early will attend Idaho State University in Pocatello to study physical therapy, and Meissner will attend Boise State University to study radiology.

Both agreed, however, that they'd probably return to Wrangell after graduating from college.

"I think we'll be too broke to go anywhere else," Early said with a laugh.