Landscaper enhances Mt. Spokane campus, student opportunities

When Jim Preston wanted a landscaping boulder to adorn the front lawn of Mt. Spokane High School, the assistant principal knew just whom to call.

“I’ll get you the biggest rock I can,” said Dave Nelson, owner of Land Expressions, an award-winning landscape design company.

The boulder, emblazoned with the Mt. Spokane logo, is one of the first things campus visitors notice. But that was just the beginning of Nelson’s contribution to the school and its students.

Preston got a call just before winter break began. “I’ve got 41 5-foot pines for you,” Nelson said. “Can you get them in today?” So Preston got five students together and headed out to the baseball field. The trees will provide a badly needed windbreak. “We got them all in,” said Preston.

Nelson and his wife are Mead High School graduates and have a son currently attending Mt. Spokane. His company has landscaped resorts, residences and commercial buildings such as the REI flagship store in Seattle. He’s interested in beautifying the Mt. Spokane campus, but he’s also interested in improving the lives of individual students.

For the past three years Nelson has given kids enrolled in the school’s work-based learning program a place to learn job skills. “He has a huge heart and compassion for kids,” Preston said.

The students enrolled in work-based learning are special education students who don’t have the same advantages as their contemporaries. Most are from low-income homes where survival is the order of the day, and college is out of the question.

“Everybody should have a chance – and a second chance,” Nelson said. “Most of these kids didn’t create the life they’re in.” His crews were wary of the students at first – until they saw how hard they worked. Now, “these students are like younger brothers to my crews,” he said.

Special education teacher Mike Cunningham said the work-based learning program gives kids a chance to gain work skills and get high school credit at the same time. “Dave Nelson is giving them the opportunity to work hard, and there are opportunities out there for kids who can work hard,” he said.

Nelson has given several of the students summer jobs, or hired them to work on the weekends, so they can know what it’s like to earn a paycheck. In fact, earning a paycheck was a problem for one student. He had no bank account and no way to cash his check. Nelson worked with his own bank to find a solution to the problem.

He’s good at finding solutions. “I focus on what the students have to offer,” he said. Nelson and Land Expressions have donated many tangible items to Mt. Spokane High School, but perhaps the most valuable contribution can be measured in the life of his current student, 16-year-old Mike Henderson. Due to family members with serious health issues, Henderson has faced a difficult year. Nelson’s involvement in his life has been a high point.

“It’s been nice working with him,” Henderson said. “He lets me take my time. He showed me that I can do a bunch of stuff I didn’t think I could do.”