This month, the Earth club begins construction on their butterfly center in order to lighten up the courtyard, reports the club president Caroline Strong. They intend to bring life to the area, which according to Strong, is “prison-esque”.

“I hope this encourages students to walk outside in the courtyard more, because as it is, it’s a little gloomy,” Strong said.

This new installment will serve both as a pit stop for migratory butterflies, such as our very own monarch, as well as a recurring habitat and a place to lay eggs for other species of butterfly.

“Basically, we are planting new flowers in the courtyard that are attractive to butterflies. We plan to plant daylilies & cosmos,” Strong said. “They attract butterflies and naturally enrich the environment, since they’re a higher diversity plant species.”

Maintaining a garden in a high traffic environment is going to be a challenge for the project.

“A couple of plants we’re looking at because they’re poisonous to birds, so the birds won’t come down and attack everything, as well as attractive to birds, so they might help control the bees. A lot of people walk through the courtyard, and I’m worried someone might be allergic to bees,” Strong said.

She said one hindrance towards construction beginning is the Klein’s after school policies.

“We’re just trying to get the finer details and the building dates together, since it’s after school hours. They don’t want a lot of students here after school. It’s going to have to be something that’s on a school-wide calendar, where Ms. Haddox knows we’re there.”

For the garden to be a success, it’s important to get it off the ground as soon as possible.

“I wanted to get this done before fall really starts to hit, to see if the garden would make it through the winter. That’s really the deciding factor for if this project is going to be self-sustaining or not.”

Earth club meets in room 306 every Tuesday. They aim to start planting in the coming weeks.

“We’re really just trying to get our resources together,” Strong said. “We’re going to see if we can look at Walmart’s green program, so we’re hoping they donate. We also have a fundraiser for t-shirts, which you can buy from the Earth club.”