20 Fall Matters 2016 The vegetable garden was established first, and has long been an important and vibrant part of the school. Teachers regularly schedule classes in the garden, and parents staff it at recess. With the help of Maggie Tuohy and Elizabeth Ebinger, the PTA liaisons for the garden, the beds are awash in produce; some of it is shared with the neighborhood during summer and the rest is harvested and eaten by students. The new classroom is expected to build on that legacy and to host classes of students for all different sorts of outdoor-based project learning – literary, scientific, mathematical and historical. Seth Boyden parent Huzefa Irfani’s original concept was of an open air pavilion, which Scerbo seamlessly translated into a landscape design when a solid structure proved too costly. It now consists of three intersecting circles: the largest is the formal classroom. One is an art nook, meant as a space where kids can draw with chalk; the other is a theater-in-the-round performance space named in honor of just-retired principal Mark Quiles, who steered the school through many years of PTA fundraising for the classroom. Although the major elements of the classroom were built by professional landscapers, most of the landscaping work was accomplished by the army of volunteers. This involved clearing some of the land, then planting hundreds of plants, digging posts, and hauling wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of soil and mulch. The school received gifts big and small from businesses throughout Maplewood and South Orange, as well as open space grants from Maplewood Township and South Orange Village. Sustainable Jersey, Lowe’s Home Improvement, and the Rotary Club supported the project with additional grants. The two towns provided funding because although the OLC is for the use of students during school hours, it is open to the public on weekends and in the evenings. This fall, the OLC committee will work on creating story boards that will make the entire yard a self- guided nature trail. Tia Swanson (below) is proud to have been part of the Seth Boyden OLC Committee, and thinks of this project as one of the most fulfilling of her life. The opportunity to get to meet the people at the Hartshorn Arboretum, and to walk its trails, was an added bonus. WE HONOR our Maplewood men and women now serving in the U.S. Military The MAPLEWOOD COMMITTEE FOR SERVICEMEN AND SERVICE- WOMEN has been actively sup- porting our local service persons since it was organized in 1943. Through these years (with an eleven-year time-out in activities following the Korean War) it has sent care packages or gift cards, observed birthdays and holidays and provided each with regular issues of the News-Record and Matters magazine. The Com- mittee is proud of its record of service, and we especially wish to thank the many people and organizations in Maplewood who have supported its cause. We believe that these efforts serve to keep our local servicemen and women in touch with their hometown, and let them know that we deeply appreciate their service to their country. Airman Lichroy Marquis of Maplewood and recently retired Committee Chairman David Sprague display flag and certificate showing the flag that flew over Baghdad then under U.S. occupation. MAPLEWOOD COMMITTEE FOR SERVICEMEN AND SERVICEWOMEN Municipal Building, Maplewood, NJ 07040 The Committee is always looking for names of Maplewoodians now on active duty in any branch of military service—but are unknown to us. We ask parents or friends to contact us so that we can add these names to our lists and provide them with our quarterly gift cards and other services. Please contact the Township Clerk at 973-762-8120.