Eufaula get hands-on experience at botanical gardens

The beautiful grounds of the Dothan Area Botanical Gardens will be an outdoor classroom for  a grou of students from Eufaula in the coming weeks.

Paul Angeloff, past president of the DABG board of directors, perked up when he heard masonry students from the Wallace Community College, Sparks Campus, sometimes provide free labor for community projects.

C.W. Bynum, a masonry teacher for the school, said these projects help his students get real-world experience about on-the-job challenges they will face some day.

Examples of projects they’ve worked on include dugouts and a press box for a softball field at Eufaula High School and Habitat for Humanity houses. The houses are especially helpful, according to Bynum, since the students learn about everything from pouring a foundation to helping put up walls and pouring concrete for a driveway.

After finishing a house, they have the satisfaction of knowing they helped a family in need move into a safe, comfortable home.

At the DABG, several students will work in shifts to add bricks to raised beds in the daylily garden that need to be extended to accommodate new pavers.

Eventually the area will include a smaller pergola and meditation bench. The project was made possible with funds from a memorial gift from Dr. LaBruce and Suzanne Hanahan Jr. and his cousin, Ann Banks.