© 2023 National Earth Science Teachers Association. All Rights Reserved.

Page 24 The Earth Scientist

Abstract

Beaumont Middle School (BMS) wanted to increase the capacity of the current rain 

garden to better handle the stormwater runoff that was coming from the main 

section of the parking lot. By increasing the size of the rain garden system through 

funding from the NOAA Planet Stewards, we were able to increase the capacity to 

catch, mitigate and filter stormwater runoff from a large impermeable surface, 

the main section of a parking lot. This project gave students the opportunity to 

investigate science in a real-world setting. 

Introduction

Beaumont Middle School is located in a suburban landscape near the headwaters of the 

Wolf Run Watershed that does not have well-designed storm water mitigation plans. The 

school campus is located with a large roofed building (the school) and a large paved parking 

lot for the faculty and visitors. Currently, BMS has two rain gardens that were built but 

are not adequate to handle the volume of water that sheds off these two structures. Habitat 

conservation and restoration was the main focus of this project funded by the NOAA Planet 

Stewards. By helping mitigate the runoff at Beaumont Middle School, the project is helping 

Wolf Run become a healthier/stronger stream allowing for a better watershed system. A 

secondary goal was to build a butterfly garden to help build a habitat for local and migrating 

butterflies and bees. (Nature Conservancy, 2019)

Project Implementation

The teachers involved in this project had worked previously to install two rain gardens. 

This has created a new habitat for local wildlife on the school property, apartment complex 

and other houses in the local community. The established rain gardens are home to 

various squirrels, rabbits, robins, starlings, sparrows and a multitude of other animals. 

While working on those rain gardens, it became apparent that the current system was 

not large enough to adequately handle the runoff from the impermeable parking lots in 

order to process and filter more stormwater runoff. Another rain garden was needed. 

(Scubberly, 2021)

Beaumont Rain and Butterfly Garden

Patrick Goff and Kyla Trahan, Beaumont Middle School, Lexington, Kentucky

Photo Credit: Pennsylvania Department of 

Conservation and Natural Resources
© 2023 National Earth Science Teachers Association. All Rights Reserved.

Volume XL, Issue 1 Page 25

Partners in the project included Kyla Trahan and Patrick Goff, BMS teacher representatives, 

Bruce Hutcheson, President of Friends of Wolf Run, and Nachie Braga, owner of Geomancer 

Permaculture. Mr. Hutcheson was the community liaison and expert on the local watershed. 

Nachie was the rain garden expert to help with site selection, plant selection, design and 

install of the rain gardens. Eight students were actively involved in the project.

Image 7. Bruce Hutcheson, President of Friends of Wolf Run, comes in to 

talk with our rain garden club about the importance of the rain garden on the 

Wolf Run watershed. Photo credit: Patrick Gof

Image 8. Nachi, helping explain why our students would want to use native 

plants in the rain garden system. Photo credit: Patrick Gof

Image 2. The butterfly garden after having been marked off. Photo credit: Patrick Gof

Table 1. Data that was collected by students.

Type of Data Data Collection Method Amount

Size of rain garden

Size of butterfly garden

Measured size of rain garden

Measured size of butterfly garden

980 square feet

750 square feet

Size of parking lot Measured size of parking area 39,000 square feet

Rainfall runoff collection Calculated amount of runoff from a 1 inch 

rainfall event

3,248 cubic feet of water

Rainfall volume Volume of rain garden original

Volume of rain garden addition

Rough 80% increase in volume

104.11 cubic feet of water could be hel

81.6 cubic feet of water could be hel

New Rain Garden Volume total – 185.71 cubic feet can be hel

The existing rain gardens, when measured, came to 2500 

square feet. The addition added another 980 square feet, 

bringing the total square footage to 3480 square feet. Students 

measured the surface of the parking lot, from which rain 

runoff would be captured, to assist in the calculation of the 

amount of runoff produced from this surface. 

Our club was formed with eight committed sixth and 

seventh grade students who wanted to see the rain garden 

be constructed at Beaumont Middle School. We wanted 

younger students so that they would buy into the program 

and want to see it maintained through their middle school 

years. Throughout the year, students would come and go 

and at one point during the construction and installation, 

Ms. Trahan and Mr. Goff were both able to have a class they 

teach be involved as well. 
© 2023 National Earth Science Teachers Association. All Rights Reserved.

Page 26 The Earth Scientist

The students also calculated the volume of water that the rain gardens could hold before and 

after the expansion. The difference between these two numbers allowed students to realize 

how much additional contaminated water could be prevented from flowing straight in the 

Wolf Run watershed.

Three outcomes were achieved at the conclusion of the project. Overall, we effectively 

increased our rain garden system by approximately 81.6 square feet. That allowed for an 

additional 185.71 cubic feet of storm water runoff to be held and absorbed, not allowing it to 

go into the storm water system. 

Table 2. Timeline of activities during the 2021-2022 school year. 

Month Activities

September Students went outside and talked about the 2 existing rain gardens, looked at the various plants, snapped pictures of 

them and slowly worked through identifying what needed to be kept and what needed to be removed

October Student lesson “Fight Flooding and Pollution with...a Garden?” The students built and tested models of a miniature ra

garden in a plastic bottle

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project-ideas/EnvSci_p066/environmental-science/rain-gard

November The students met with Bruce Hutcheson to investigate where BMS fits into the Wolf Run watershed through a map

December Students measured the size of the parking lot and rain gardens, 130 feet by 300 feet and our rain gardens measured in 

at approximately 2500 square feet

January Students met with our contractor, Nachie Braga, who would build both gardens, to learn about the history of our area and 

why rain gardens are important

February Mr. Braga brought in a list of possible native plants for our students to pick from and talked about the pros and cons

of each family type of plant for the gardens. Students then developed a list of plants that would be used. The student

were made aware of the fact that the specific plants picked would be dependent on availability and price. Students were

aware of the budget so they could understand the constraints on the project

April Mr. Braga came in on spring break to do the heavy equipment work of excavation and ground prep work for the rain

garden expansion and butterfly garden install. This was done for work vehicles to not interfere with traffic in the parking

lots and to not have to worry about students being near the work sites

May Planting was started and finished with the help of volunteers from Mrs. Trahsn’s science classe

Fall Future work includes mulching the gardens, creating signage for both gardens, and creating public service 

announcements about the gardens

Image 1. The butterfly garden after being planted. Photo

credit: Kyla Trahan

Image 3. The area in our walking track where we wanted the butterfly garden after having been 

cleared. Photo credit: Kyla Traha
© 2023 National Earth Science Teachers Association. All Rights Reserved.

Volume XL, Issue 1 Page 27

Image 5. The rain garden expansion after having been planted. Photo credit:

Patrick Goff

Outcome #1 – Expansion of Rain Garden

This outcome allowed for an increase in the amount 

of rainfall that can be captured and diverted from the 

stormwater system.

Outcome #2 – Creation of Rain Garden Club

This outcome was of great pride for the educators involved 

because they were able to get 6th grade students to take 

interest and ownership in rain gardens. The club itself 

had eight student members but was able to involve about 

another 35 students in the planting of the materials through 

class time and school service projects.

Outcome #3 – Water quality improvement for the Wolf 

Run Watershed

This diversion allows the rainfall that has various 

pollutants, many from the 50 plus vehicles that park on the 

parking lot, to be absorbed by the ground prior to entering 

the Wolf Run watershed.

While the project was able to calculate the amount of runoff 

from the parking lot and the volume of runoff that the rain 

gardens could absorb, it did not calculate the rate at which the 

gardens would absorb the runoff. This additional piece of data 

will need to be calculated over the Fall and Spring of 2022-2023 

school year. This will allow for a better understanding of the 

amount of water that can be contained within the rain garden. 

This number will be used to determine future expansion needs 

of the rain garden.

Conclusion

Long term maintenance of the rain garden and butterfly 

garden will fall to future students and staff at BMS along with 

community volunteer members. Our communication was not 

what had been planned as the timeline of planting was pushed 

back because of issues obtaining plants and getting money 

processed through the school district. The current plan is to take 

the 2022-2023 school year and start publicizing to the school and 

wider community about the rain gardens and butterfly gardens. 

The project is also in talks of working with a local elementary 

school to help them write a grant to Kentucky American Water 

to install their own rain garden. 

There were several lessons learned over the course of 

the project. 

1. Organize meetings better and help guide the students in 

the process.

Image 6. Kyla and her students who helped plant the rain garden 

expansion. Photo credit: Patrick Gof

Image 4. Nachi Braga, the local environmental consultant, and Kyla 

Trahan helped plant our rain garden. Photo credit: Patrick Gof
© 2023 National Earth Science Teachers Association. All Rights Reserved.

Page 28 The Earth Scientist

2. Get the planting done either in the fall of the school year 

OR earlier in the spring so one is not fighting the end of the 

school year. Project completion was delayed due to the need to 

remove some invasive plant species and put down the mulch. 

In conclusion, it was a great learning experience for all parties 

involved in the installation of a new rain garden and butterfly 

garden at our school. We have seen the gardens go from being just 

an idea to being a real-life rain garden and butterfly garden. Our 

students are excited at the chance to maintain and improve on what 

we have done so far. We are also excited that we now know that we 

have been able to make a difference in the downstream water quality 

from the rain gardens that have been installed, even if it is a small 

difference, it is still a difference the students are proud of.

References

The Nature Conservancy. 2019. Planting For Pollinators. https://www.

nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/united-states/kentucky/

stories-in-kentucky/planting-for-pollinators/

Scubberly. 2021. Benefits of Rain Garden for 2021. https://www.

raingardennetwork.com/benefits-of-planting-rain-gardens/

About the Authors

Patrick Goff is a 23 year veteran science teacher 

who works at Beaumont Middle School in Lexington, 

KY. He has his BS in Secondary Ed Earth/Space

Science and a Masters in Administration and 

Supervision along with his National Boards Science/

Early Adolescence. He has helped to oversee the

installation and expansion of the rain gardens at 

our school. Patrick can be reached at patrick.gof

fayette.kyschools.

Kyla Trahan is a 19 year veteran teacher with 

Beaumont Middle School located in Lexington, KY

Kyla teaches 6th grade science, has a Bachelor’s 

Degree in Elementary Education 1-8 with an add on 

of PreK- K, a Master’s Degree in Arts of Elementary 

Education, and a Rank 1 in Educational Technology

Kyla can be reached at kyla.trahan@fayett

kyschools.u