Meet MORRIS: the student-built sculpture turning heads and changing minds at Bluebird Gap Farm

What do you get when you combine student innovation, community collaboration, and a farm full of curious visitors? You get MORRIS—a larger-than-life sculpture with a mission, now proudly stationed at Bluebird Gap Farm (BBGF) in Hampton. MORRIS was officially dedicated at an Earth Day event on Saturday, April 26, 2025, with chief of secondary school leadership Shameka Pollard, School Board member Tina Banks-Gray, and Councilwoman Hope Harper in attendance.

 

This project began in the spring of 2022, when an exciting partnership took shape between the Hampton Clean City Commission (HCCC); Bluebird Gap Farm; Peninsula Master Naturalists; 757 Makerspace; and the Governor’s STEM Academy for Architecture, Environment, and Engineering at Kecoughtan High School (KHS). Former park manager Adam Newland and members of the Hampton Waterways Restoration Project (HWRP is a subcommittee of the HCCC), sparked the idea by challenging students to design a public display that would educate the community about the growing issue of litter.

 

Newland kicked things off with an introductory video that set the tone for what would become the Academy’s Project-Based Learning (PBL) initiative for the 2022–2023 school year. He followed up by providing an informative field trip to the farm for students in Karen Chang’s biology classes. In addition, he made several visits to KHS to guide the budding creators.

 

With their imaginations ignited, students began sketching designs and building mock-ups under the mentorship of career and technical education (CTE) teachers Percy Gregory and Salma Sultana, as well as art teachers Robin Gordan and Ashley Brooks. As the plans evolved, the task of bringing MORRIS to life moved to CTE teacher Matt Pohlman, who helped students take their vision from blueprint to reality.

 

Like many great projects, MORRIS’ journey wasn’t without a few bumps in the road. There were starts, stops, revisions, and reboots—but support from former academy coach Evan Grummell, digital learning specialist Becca LeCompte, and 757 Makerspace owner Beau Turner, kept the momentum going. In the spring of 2024, Pohlman and his students carefully loaded their creation—lovingly dubbed “MORRIS”—onto a trailer for its short journey to BBGF.

 

But MORRIS is more than just a name. It’s an acronym that delivers a powerful message:

• Making a commitment not to litter
• Organizing or joining a cleanup
• Reducing single-use plastics
• Recycling properly
• Informing yourself and others about the impact of litter
• Spreading the word
  

When visitors scan the QR code on MORRIS’ sign, they’ll find a trove of information and resources carefully curated by students and staff, all aimed at empowering the public to take action against litter. The stunning sign that accompanies and explains the MORRIS sculpture was designed by Marty Wood (HCS print shop) and Wendy Iles (HCCC) and produced by the HCS print shop.

The final touches on MORRIS were lovingly applied by Peninsula master naturalist Linda Boone and her team, who sanded rough edges, painted surfaces, and carefully filled the sculpture with common litter items found along waterways, helping to bring the sculpture to life. 

 

A heartfelt thank-you goes out to Matt Pohlman, Evan Grummell, Becca LeCompte, the Hampton Clean City Commission that funded the project and staff member Wendy Iles who ensured its completion, Marty Wood of the HCS print shop, Linda Boone, HWRP committee members, Peninsula master naturalists, former and current BBGF managers Adam Newland and Becky Nissen, and the dedicated students of the Governor’s STEM Academy of Architecture, Environment, and Engineering.

 

MORRIS now stands tall at BBGF, ready to educate and inspire the 200,000+ visitors who pass through the farm each year—one eye-opening fact, one curious glance, and one small action at a time.