Martinsburg teen Julia Stedman hopes her pursuit of an Eagle attracts other winged creatures.
Stedman, 17, completed her Eagle Scout project on Oct. 3 on the grounds of her alma mater, Saint Joseph School. She created a 100-square-foot butterfly way station near the parking circle behind the school at 110 E. Stephen St.
A senior at Spring Mills High School, she is a member of the Thunder Ducks patrol of Troop 37 in Hedgesville, W.Va. Her mother, a kindergarten teacher at SJS, told Julia that she would love to do some gardening with her students, a discussion from which the idea for the way station blossomed.
Julia’s only hesitation was her lack of experience.
“I’m not very garden-savvy,” she said.
But her grandmother Vickie Stedman is president of the Norborne Garden Club in Martinsburg and had plenty of knowledge to share. She lent her expertise for the design of the space and plant selection. Following her grandmother’s suggestions, Julia purchased perennials including common and swamp varieties of milkweed, butterfly bushes, bee balm, black-eyed Susans, coreopsis and pincushion flowers.
She successfully applied for a $200 grant from the garden club and also received a $160 donation from that group to fund her endeavor.
Vickie connected Julia with someone who tilled the land and, in late September, Julia and 17 others planted all but 10 of the more than 20 plants she bought. They dug holes for the remaining flowers and bushes meant to attract butterflies so the 40 kindergartners at SJS could plant them on Oct. 3. Working in groups of four, the children put peat moss in the holes, set the plants in place, filled the holes with soil and watered them.
Upon completing the project, Stedman was a bit more confident in her ability to garden.
“I feel a little bit better about it,” she said.
Perhaps the most difficult part was delegating much of the labor to others while she served as the project manager.
“It was surprising how hard it was,” she said, because with most other undertakings, she is fully hands-on.
Julia learned a lot in the process of planning and creating a garden.
“I didn’t know butterfly way stations were ‘a thing’ before this,” she said, adding that she was surprised to learn that such spaces can be certified.
In order to attain the rank of Eagle Scout, she has to complete the work to obtain a few merit badges. Julia is juggling that with serving as assistant director of Spring Mills High School’s production of “The Outsiders,” which is being staged Nov. 8 to 10 at the school.
An aspiring film director, she’s also applying to colleges, including Syracuse University, The University of Texas at Austin, University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Shenandoah University and Penn State.
