Pond, waterfall planned in student landscaping project at New Stanton career and technology school

A student organization at Central Westmoreland Career and Technology Center is leading a landscaping project meant to beautify the grounds of the New Stanton school while creating a living educational installation.

Led by adviser Dan Overdorff, the school’s Future Farmers of America chapter is poised to develop a three-tiered, pump-driven exterior waterfall that will feed into a koi pond and also provide irrigation for adjacent beds of vegetation. The project has been dubbed Phoenix Falls, after the school’s mascot.

In addition to adding appeal to an area near the administrative parking lot, the project will provide practical experience in landscaping for students and will demonstrate the concept of sustainable aquaponics, Overdorff said. Aquaponics harnesses a beneficial exchange between fish and plants to support healthy growth of the vegetation.

“It will provide a showpiece for what our agriculture and landscape design program is all about,” said Overdorff, who is an instructor for the program. “We did a rebranding of the horticulture class a few years ago to focus more on, not only greenhouse and floral work, but to do a larger introduction into landscape design and installation.”

Overdorff said lily pads placed in the pond, together with the power of sunlight and the life processes of the koi — a colorful, low-maintenance variety of carp — should encourage growth of algae that will contribute to a self-sustaining pond habitat. Continual cycling through the waterfall will help to support the quality of the water.

At the same time, he said, waste products from the koi will be converted by beneficial bacteria into essential elements for adjacent plant growth — including magnesium and potassium.

Overdorff noted koi are “super disease-resistant and can live in a wide pH range and anywhere from 38 degrees to 80 degrees.”

Heating elements for the water will help the koi survive during cold winter months, he said, while a hose will supplement the water level during potential drought conditions.

Walkways of pavers and barriers of natural boulders will help define the landscaped spaces, he said. The school’s construction trades students may be enlisted to help with more elaborate elements, including a proposed gazebo and a footbridge over the pond.

Another aim of the landscaping will be to manage stormwater, said Jason Lucia, the school’s administrative director.

“It will be at the front part of our property, to help with stormwater runoff and retention and to assist with erosion prevention,” Lucia said.

Just a few years old, the Central Westmoreland FFA chapter has about 50 members. The group’s first major project was designing a gateway garden at the Mt. Pleasant Area High School stadium, Overdorff said.

He said work on the waterfall and pond could begin this spring and is expected to wrap up in the following school year.

The project has been awarded a matching $25,000 Agriculture & Youth Grant funded through the Pennsylvania Farm Bill. Overdorff is looking to several area businesses to help with donations of materials and technical assistance.

A $7,478 grant from the same program has been approved for use at the Forbes Road Career and Technology Center in Monroeville.