BrightView teamed up with students and faculty of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School to finish work on an outdoor learning space.

Before the recent tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, students were working to create an outdoor learning space, but the ground was not well-graded, and students weren’t able to maintain the area.

“It hit close to home—one of my good family friends was there,” said BrightView Business Developer Michael Lashbrook. “After it happened, we all felt terrible. I was just trying to think of ways that I could help. Knowing that BrightView has the capabilities, I reached out to my friend to find out what we could do.”

The area wasn’t quite finished but already contained several handcrafted elements created by the students, including raised planter beds, a hydroponic garden, a telescope observatory and solar-powered electric panels.

BrightView agreed to regrade the entire garden and existing walkways, add additional paver walkways, create and install a Florida-native educational garden and butterfly garden and design a reflective tranquility garden as a healing space for students and teachers. Everything used was donated by BrightView’s suppliers.

A key piece of the area was the reflective and tranquility garden. The garden has colorful plant material and a water feature in the center. Lining the pathway are 17 glazed, solid granite stones to symbolize the 17 students and faculty who lost their lives.

In other BrightView news, the company partnered with Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU) to install the Remembrance Garden featuring a SCSU Alumnae Sandy Hook Memorial to honor the memory of the four alumnae educators who were killed during the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting and to pay tribute to social justice, a key area of focus for SCSU.

While she was a student at the university, Carlene Barnes, a 2013 graduate, created a conceptual design for the memorial that was selected in a juried competition. The design combines art and physical spaces, bringing visitors together and featuring delta-shaped stones symbolizing change and underscoring the belief that supporting others begins with small steps.

Barnes and the SCSU staff teamed with Julie Moir Messervy Design Studio in Vermont to complete the design. The garden features a sculpture lined with four fiber-optic lighting strands representing the four alumnae lost during the Sandy Hook massacre and the light they brought into the world.

“The garden creates a setting of peace and tranquility with a beautiful wooden sculpture that reminds us of our alumnae’s courage and sacrifice,” said Joe Bertolino, SCSU president. “This space will serve as a place of inspiration and motivation to break the cycle of violence and build a better society for generations to come.”

The Remembrance Garden is a part of a larger SCSU Reflection Garden that is a first-of-its-kind physical expression of the university’s five core values: dignity, respect, kindness, compassion and civility.

“There were many hands involved to make this project a reality, and we were honored to be a part of it,” said Justin Wolf, branch manager at BrightView. “We began with planning conversations and then moved to prepping the site, helping to manage the project and completing hardscape for what is now the garden’s Area of Compassion.”

Carpentry students from nearby Eli Whitney Technical High School built a curved bench to face the wooden sculpture. The sculpture itself was designed by artists Rich Duca and Meredith Bergmann and constructed at Brooklin Boat Yard in Maine.

Oly-Ola Edgings—a producer of commercial-grade, 100 percent recycled paver restraint, landscape edging and roof garden edging products for landscape architects and contractors—is celebrating 40 years in business.

Oly-Ola’s 40th-year celebration theme, 40 Years of Edging Innovations, includes milestones, such as introducing various edging sizes, heights and styles to fit landscape contractor installation preferences and landscape architect specifications; designing the first L-shaped paver restraint; developing green roof edging; manufacturing products using 100 percent recyclable materials; and pioneering edging installation methods that keep edging firmly planted in the ground.

Oly-Ola was founded in 1978 with the introduction of a newly designed landscape edging product called Edg-King. It was designed with four horizontal grooves and installed with stakes at a 45-degree angle into the turf to keep the edging firmly planted in the ground.

Coyote Landscape Products recently opened a new distribution facility located in Indianapolis. This new facility is set to stock a full line of commercial and residential edging products including all sizes and finishes of steel edging and accessories.

“Coyote’s rapid growth over the past year has allowed us to broaden our capabilities, including distribution, to help us reach our customers faster and easier,” said Sean Broderick, director of business development for Coyote Landscape Products. “This new distribution center increases our reach across North America and will help us meet the pricing and shipping demands of this industry.”

This expansion is located to help support Coyote’s Midwest and East Coast customers. The Indianapolis facility allows for more direct shipping routes to these regions of the country, which will reduce lead times and increase local pick up options. This new facility is an addition to Coyote’s headquarters in Denver.

To celebrate its 20th anniversary, Polaris Ranger is calling upon owners to submit stories about their hardworking Ranger for a chance to win one of three ultimate Ranger experiences.

“While Polaris has been a player in the powersports market for nearly 65 years, we first cut our teeth in the side-by-side category with the groundbreaking introduction of Ranger two decades ago,” said Kyle Duea, vice president, Off-Road Marketing, Polaris. “Since then, we’ve grown to define and set the standard for every category in the side-by-side market, with Ranger continuing to lead the utility side-by-side category year after year.”

To support the 20th anniversary of Ranger, Polaris has teamed up with champion tie-down roper Tyson Durfey, professional angler David Dudley and TV hosts and professional hunters Lee and Tiffany Lakosky to create the ultimate Ranger experiences. Throughout the month of May, owners are encouraged to submit a video or 300-word-max story about their Ranger and what it has helped them achieve for a chance to win an all-expense paid ultimate rodeo, fishing or hunting adventure hosted by these professionals.

Photos: BrightView