It is finally senior year, and it is time for lunch. The seniors head for the long-awaited senior patio and open the door with the fresh vigor of becoming a senior. 

Walking toward the gazebo, a swamp impedes their path.

“A swamp?” they think. “At our school?”

This is no ordinary swamp, but a swamp full of bees. 

Before this school year, the senior patio seemed more like a punishment than a privilege.

English teacher and Environmental Club sponsor Jessica Hunter claims the patio was “in dire need of love and affection.”

So this summer, Perry graduate Jordan Robbins and current senior Charles Stoner worked together to give this problematic patio long-overdue makeover.

After acquiring funds through a grant secured by Robbins, Hunter began buying tools and materials to renovate the patio. 

 According to Hunter, the garden, finished by mid-June, is intended to give back to the community by donating food to Perry residents in need.

The pergola, a more modern garden construction replacing the gazebo, came later. 

Stoner, who Hunter describes as “looking to leave a mark on Perry Meridian,” envisioned a plan to renovate the patio.

Construction started nine days before school began, with many students and a lot of “blood, sweat, and tears,” Hunter emphasizes.

Hunter says the patio was renovated in hopes of “making it a place that felt like home for the seniors.” 

With a new pergola, garden, and the absence of a bee swamp, that home is made.