When Saquoia Wallace, a student at South Atlanta High, saw the flyer about a summer program to work outdoors and learn about landscaping, she jumped at the chance.
“I really wanted to be outside this summer,” said the 16-year-old. “And I liked that the program was paid.”
Wallace is one of eight students in the first cohort of Oakland Cemetery’s Youth Landscape and Hardscape Team. The six-week program has teens working about 20 hours a week at $12 an hour while learning basic skills around landscaping and maintenance of outdoor structures. The team is overseen by the grounds crew and Charvis Buckholts, Oakland’s director of education and youth programs who joined the city-owned facility in January. A former school teacher, he wanted to connect learning to real-world skills.
“At Oakland, our main focus is on landscape and hardscape; that includes upkeep of the lots and the monuments,” he said. “Our team is working with these students to train them and help them get certified in this field, if they’re interested. It’s preparing them for the real world.”
Detryk Middlebrook, a 15-year-old student at Maynard Jackson High, signed up to learn about landscaping.
“As part of the experience, I’ve trimmed hedges, pulled weeds and mowed lawns,” he said. “I’ve learned about the different materials and aspects of the job. It might be a potential career.”
Buckholts recruited students through flyers, visits to area schools and social media. He received about 40 applications, and next year he hopes for more.
“Most of them were looking for a first job, but I explained that the program was more than that,” he said. “I also explained that Oakland is more than a cemetery; it’s an historic place run by the city of Atlanta Parks and Rec department.”
The accepted students have been weeding and sprucing up the gravesites as well as cleaning and repairing headstones, markers and mausoleums. In addition, students attend weekly professional development workshops on a range of topics, from mental health awareness to financial literacy. Buckholts hopes the experience brings some of them back next summer to supervise a new crew and to help with his next educational venture: creating a STEM curriculum tied to the site’s history.
“We’re working on a STEM summer camp for K-12 based on the history we have here,” he said. “And it will tie to our landscape team by having kids take measurements, build a mausoleum and understand how trees and roots work.”
Wallace said the experience has been fun, despite dealing with bugs and having to explain to friends what she’s doing.
“No, I’m not working with dead people,” she tells them. “I’m helping preserve history.”
Information on Oakland Cemetery is online at oaklandcemetery.com.
SEND US YOUR STORIES. Each week we look at programs, projects and successful endeavors at area schools, from pre-K to grad school. To suggest a story, contact H.M. Cauley at hm_cauley@yahoo.com or 770-744-3042.
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