Chambersburg Area Middle School students design memorial garden

Click photo to enlargeCHAMBERSBURG – A new garden in the middle of Chambersburg Area Middle School South will honor the son of former teachers and a former administrator at the school.

The Memorial Garden, adjacent to the school’s cafeteria and surrounded by the building, is in honor of Bradley Bordlemay and Terri Rowe.

The garden was created by a group of gifted seminar students with the help of science teacher Barb Shatzer and other staff.

“They’ve been involved in every aspect of it,” said Shatzer. “From the very first moment, they’ve raised funds, they’ve dug ponds and they’ve designed the garden. They’ve done a wonderful job.

“They’re a remarkable group of kids. The staff has been wonderful, too. They were always there for the kids.”

Bordlemay was a former CAMS student and son of retired CAMS teachers Dave and Jennie Bordlemay. A tree planted in Bordlemay’s memory had been in place in the garden area at the school. A winter snowstorm damaged the tree.

Rowe was an assistant principal at CAMS South who passed away before the start of the 2011-12 school year.

Shatzer, a science teacher at CAMS South, asked gifted teacher Jason Kibbe if seminar students could lead the project.

“At first, I was a little cautious because I was worried that it wasn’t going to be as great as people wanted it to be,” said eighth-grader Sofia Jurado. “We thought it wasn’t going to be an actual memorial, but just a little garden.

“I think it looks great. It’s awesome to see our idea come to life

like it did. I think it turned out better than we thought it would.”

The garden includes a pond, two benches, flower beds and an area with sand and seashells to reflect Rowe’s love for the beach. Students will also plant a small hemlock tree in honor of Bordlemay.

Poinsettias were placed in the garden this week. Native plants, including evergreen shield ferns, black eyed susans, forget-me-nots, tiger lilies and butterfly weed will be planted later in the school year.

“We were excited, but we were scared because we’ve never done anything as big as this,” said eighth-grader Carlos Vera. “It was better than I thought it would be. I thought we’d have lots of limitations. I just wanted lots of orange flowers.”

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Brian Hall can be reached at 262-4811 and bkhall@publicopinionnews.com, or follow him on Twitter @bkhallpo.