Sustainability Scavenger Hunt: Searching for Watauga High School's Earth- Friendly Features

Carrie Bradbury, Review Desk lead

All photos taken by Carrie Bradbury on April 2, 2026.

Having a functional, aesthetically-pleasing, and environmentally-friendly campus is something that most Watauga High School students take for granted. The outside of the school, as well as the inside, are incredibly healthy and clean, which make the learning environment all the better. Plants are scattered about the parking lot, flooding is minimal even on the heaviest rains, and students are surrounded by sustainable elements which they might not even notice. None of this is by accident.

Since opening day, Watauga High School has been notably sustainable. Earth and Environmental and AP Earth Science teacher Joshua Roberts has become an expert on the topic of global warming and climate change through his own education and teaching. With this knowledge, Roberts has the ability to notice both the pros and cons of the school building and how they effect the surrounding environment.

"Watauga High School was the first green school of excellence high school in the state of North Carolina," said Roberts. "So what that meant was from the day this building opened, it already had so many environmental features built in that we received the highest rating given, and we were the first school to have that."

While geothermal heating and sun lights make the inside of the school environmentally friendly, there are also many elements that make the outside of the building equally sustainable.

The softball field boarders a neihborhood, making flood prevention and protection vital for both the health of the field and the people living near it. Water can easily carry away the fields' dirt and grass into roads and water ways if there are no protections.

From the dimond to the outfield, the softball field is covered by dirt that allows little infiltration. This makes the grass-covered outfield essential for flood protection.

Red dirt is a key characteristic of baseball and softball fields, and Watauga's is no different. The dirt and grass on the field, along with the gravel that surrounds it, are all important for drainage and runoff prevention. To change from this classic set up to a field made out of a turf would come with both an improved look and more runnoff.

"They've been discussing the idea of baseball, maybe the softball field too, becoming artificial turf.  Right now, because those fields are natural, that allows water to go into the ground," said Roberts. "But what also is occurring is they use a lot of chemicals, on the baseball and softball fields. They keep those fields green the whole year.  All those chemicals wash off the field and they go down to the river."

The use of chemicals to alter the natural life cycle of plants, even those as simple as grass, raise alarms for obvious reasons. Likewise, keeping the natural grass comes with its environmental issues as well.

"If we artificially turf those fields we're not using those chemicals. But now the turf means we're gonna have more runoff and possibly erosion of sediment," said Roberts. "So, every decision we make has pros and cons."

Three images that when put together show the entirty of the school when looking at the front door. The images highlight how much space is covered in metal roofing and available for solar panels.

It is not just the athletic fields that have connections to the environamnt, but also the actual school building. Despite that the school's large roof is both metal and relatively flat, it is empty of solar panels. While this is a massive missed opportunity, the school is captivating on the open roof places in other areas of the campus. Thanks to the student run sustainability club program at the school, solar pannels were added to the roof of the main consession stand next to the football field.

"On the outside, we have solar panels out there. The wind turbine is more of an experimental kind of thing. I don't think it's power in anything," said Roberts. "The sustainability club I know is responsible for the new solar panel on the football field concessions. So that's work that's been done recently."

The wind terbine placed near the throwing area of the track. The terbine stands out of the way of usual student traffic, but is a great way to tell how strong the wind is.

There are many sustainable features around the track that students may not see the benefit of. While it is easy to identify the environmental issues that may arise near the track and football field, including flooding, water pollution, and litter, all of these are shockingly uncommon due to the prevention features in place. The hardly noticeable dome shape of the football field that leads water directly into a drain that transports water away from the track and field keeps flooding and runoff to a minimum.

"So that black drain that circles the football field in between it and the track, that drain matters, and if you're gonna drain that water, you gotta keep those drains clean and do the maintenance," said Roberts. "So that's the other part of this. If we're doing things on this campus that requires us to redirect runoff and redirect water, are we then also committed to maintaining those drains."

Keeping these drian systems clean is easier said then done as Roberts identifies. While it is true that these drains help tremndously to prevent flooding. If they are clogged, damaged, or over flooded, they can add to the probelm more then they can help.

Some of the drains placed next to the concession and around the football field. These drains transport water directly to the greenway before it can pool up on campus.

Drainind water is not as simple as it looks. While it is easy to believe that any dranage is good as long as the water and sediment is no longer effecting the sytems on camous, we have neihbores who would not agree. Because the high school is close to both the public greenway and people's houses, directing runoff has to be intentional.

"Some of those big pipes go straight into Harden Creek. Some of them actually literally dump right off the hillside.  And so in that sense, some of our water from campus will come out of pipes that actually goes into the neighborhood next to us," said Roberts. "This isn't just a problem that we have to think about with our campus and even the Greenway. It's literally our neighbors right next to us, so whatever spills out of those drains kind of comes out on the bank and then can go into their yards and eventually to the creek from there."

Large amounts of flooding affect the most delicate systems the hardest. For the high school, that means the grass banks near the football field and the gravel road that connects the high school property and the local greenway. Constant runoff has left these areas with large sections of erosion and rock displacement.

Even with preventative measures in place, erosion is inevitable. There are multiple areas around campus that have physical damage created by flooding. While most of these problem areas were created by Hurrican Helene which hit the high country in September 2024, there are still areas of Watauga's campus that need to be fixed. The mass flooding that happened as a result of the record breaking rainfall during the hurricane left deep scars in the earth and created new hot spots of erosion. While these scars can be fixed by strategies such as placing new rock, implementing new draining systems, and rebuilding pathways, the most effective medicine will be time and allowing the growned to naturally heal itself.

The rain garden between the school's parking and building stays dormant during the winter but comes to life in the warm months, housing plants that soak up the access water and draw in native pollinators.

While there is no perfect solution to solve the flooding prolem, but plants can be a first step. Keeping natural plants in place is the most ideal situation, but because of parking lots, fields, and building, putting plants anywhere possible is helpful. Grass, shrubs, and trees might seem like a small thing when thinking about how large the environment is, but protecting these simple plants is an easy thing to do to help protect the much larger system.

"The school does a good job of when we mow the campus, we only mow where it needs to be, but we leave a lot of the vegetation where students aren't walking and people aren't bothered by it," said Roberts. "We leave it growing and we leave it full and lush, and that helps slow down the water, prevent trash and things from the campus getting down to the creek. It also slows the water down so we don't get a lot of erosion of sediment down the creek, doing a lot of those good things, too."

Looking to the future of Watauga High School and it's sustainable efforts, anything is possible. Students in Sustainability Club, Earth and Environmental classes, and any others interested in protecting the environment have the opportunity to change the community which they are most involved with, the high school campus. Though it won't always be easy, making an effort to keep campus clean is possible.

"Because of sustainability club and people just caring more about the environment, we have a lot more signage in the school that's educating students," said Roberts. "And even outside we have recycle bins outside of the campus that people can use."

Making an effort to start new systems to protect the environamnt is important, but almost more essential then that, is keeping up with the systems already in place. Watching over drains, gardens, and pathways to make sure that they are working properly is an effort which the school will have to keep in order to be as environmentally friendly as possible.

"Anytime we make those environmental changes, turning natural grounds into artificial turf or even doing things like new rain gardens or something, it's always going to require maintenance," said Roberts. "And you can't just do it one time to be done.  Even the rain garden, you can't just make the rain garden and say, okay, now it's done."

There are many bushes and trees that are scattered around the parking lot that break up the constant concrete. Having these small patches of life amidst the man-made elements of campus make the campus look far more pleasing.

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