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This week the Botetourt View is covering some of the nine classes held for Journey the Botetourt County Public School's program for the gifted and talented. 87 students are participating in the week of adventure at Central Academy Middle School!

On Monday the Botany class traveled to a garden in Southwest Roanoke County off Rt. 419 called "Calvin's Garden." The horticulture in the garden is primarily of endangered plants from many continents that are being grown by the owner," said Emily Parnell a Cloverdale student who is participating in the class. The students were using story teller technology on computers to place photos in a file. They were taken during the trip.

Tuesday was a big day for the class in more ways than one. Jeff Kirwan, PHD in Forestry at Virginia Tech and 4H Extension Specialist for the  Remarkable Trees of Virginia book and project sponsored by 4H, was on hand to talk to the students and take them on a 5K hike to see the Virginia State Champion Honeylocust at Fincastle United Methodist Church.The second place tree is located in Godwin Cemetery. The Fincastle Methodist Honeylocust is the second largest in the United States and is up for re-measurement next year.

First, Kirwan gave the students a slide show of some of the thousands of trees nominated for inclusion in the Remarkable Tree project and in the book published in 2008. One of the students' favorite trees is a tree that is growing out of an ancient pick up truck and is featured in the book.

The trek from Central Academy  featured the identification of trees in the CAMS yard, trees in the BTEC front area, along Springwood Road and throughout the Town of Fincastle to the Methodist Church and Godwin Cemetary. Along the way, Kirwan and the students discovered the Catalpa tree in front of Breckinridge Elementary School is large enough to be nominated for the project! (Stay tuned for tomorrow!)

He gave the students some interesting facts about the honeylocust being a Cemetary type tree and that is where it is listed in the book. He also said the Native Americans planted honeylocust near gardens because it has the knack to pull nitrogen out fo the air.

Some hints he gave for tree care included, "Do not park under a tree." That act will damage a tree's root system!

Students in the class included Alex Ford, Chris Bradd, Christopher Fechisin, Chris Thrasher, Thomas Harrison, Audrey Stultz and Emily Parnell. Instructor for the class is Todd Merrille and was assisted by Marcia Peters, Gifted and Talented Specialist and a volunteer, Forestry teacher and FFA sponsor from James River High School, Richard Furman also took the hike through town with the class.