Minuteman High School Horticulture students and their teachers to be on "This Old House" on Nov. 16

LEXINGTON - Students in the Horticulture and Plant Science program at Minuteman High School will be featured in November on the nationally-televised, Emmy award-winning PBS series, “This Old House.” The students, along with their teachers Sarah Ard and Peter Kelleher, will be shown restoring the gardens at the Buttrick mansion in Minute Man National Historical Park in Concord.

The program is scheduled to air on November 16, 2017.

This will be the second time in slightly more than a month that Minuteman has been showcased on a PBS program. On October 12, 2017, Minuteman was one of three vocational technical high schools in Massachusetts to be spotlighted on a PBS documentary titled “Job Centered Learning,” which examined the benefits of career and technical education.

“This Old House” linked up with Minuteman several years ago to give students valuable on-site training. For the program’s 25th anniversary in 2004, four Minuteman students were chosen to be paid apprentices working with the team of experts who regularly appear on “This Old House” to build a home in Carlisle, Mass.

Minuteman Superintendent Dr. Edward A. Bouquillon expressed his satisfaction at having the school’s students showcased again on such an acclaimed national TV program. “I'm really pleased to be working with ‘This Old House’ again,” he said, “supporting high-quality career and technical education as a means to individual economic opportunity for many young people. ‘This Old House’ and public television are important aspects of our community and we will continue to work with them in every way possible.”

On a Thursday morning in late spring, Minuteman students Jeffrey Connell, Nicholas DuLong, Lola Clemente, Gannon Zdanavage, Sam Scannell, Andrew Abbott and Charles Lovett, accompanied by Ms. Ard and Mr. Kelleher, headed to the Buttrick mansion. No longer a private residence, it is now the North Bridge Visitor Center in Minute Man National Historical Park. Its impressive pedigree dates back generations to colonial times.

The mansion was built in 1911 by Stedman Buttrick, Sr, a descendant of Major John Buttrick. Major Buttrick was in charge of the Concord Minutemen on April 19, 1775, when the British arrived to seize munitions stored by the patriots. At the Old North Bridge, Major Buttrick's men were fired upon and he gave the famous order, “Fire men, for God's sake, fire!” This would later be called the “shot heard 'round the world.”

The area where the Minuteman students were working is called the Terrace Garden. Restoring the beauty of that garden was the Minuteman students’ focus. They cleaned out undergrowth, removed all invasives, divided and replanted daylilies, labeled plants for future maintenance, did erosion control and pruned larger plants.

Being filmed by “This Old House” was “very easy and low stress for us,” Ms. Ard said.

Students in the Horticulture and Plant Science program at Minuteman are accustomed to successfully meeting challenges of all kinds, she added. “The students are used to working on robust, large-scale projects with strict deadlines, including the Boston Flower and Garden Show and various projects in our district towns.”

Many of the students said they felt extremely honored to work at such a historic site. Lola Clemente, a senior from Medford, said, “I enjoyed being able to work at a National Park and restore a historical garden. It's really cool that ‘This Old House’ recognized our work and supports our commitment to going into the field of horticulture."

Minuteman is an award-winning regional high school that integrates robust academic and career & technical learning to deliver a revolutionary competitive advantage. The school serves a diverse student body with multiple learning styles, expanding opportunities for college and career success.

As an accredited member of the New England Association of Schools & Colleges (NEASC), Minuteman challenges all students to aspire to their full potential, accelerate their learning, and achieve success in the 21st-century global community.