Two years ago, a winter storm shut down schools across Knoxville. Roads were icy, staff couldn’t get in, and Mount Olive Elementary’s parking lot was buried under snow and ice. The Yard Force saw the story on WBIR and sent crews out. No contract, no invoice — just a team showing up to clear the lot and help teachers and staff get back safely.
That was the beginning of something that would take two more years to fully come to life.
A Courtyard Nobody Could Use
After the snow day, school leaders at Mount Olive Elementary reached back out to Clay Councill and his team with a different kind of challenge. The school had an interior courtyard — tucked inside the building, surrounded on all sides — that had sat unused and overgrown for years. The space was meant to be an outdoor gathering area for students, but it had become neglected, overgrown, and largely forgotten.
“For the past four years, we’ve really been talking about converting this courtyard area into something the whole school could use,” said Stacy Davis, the school’s librarian.
The problem wasn’t just the overgrowth. The courtyard’s location — completely enclosed by the school building — made it nearly impossible to access with standard equipment. Getting materials in and debris out required hauling everything by hand. There was no easy path for a skid steer, no straightforward way to get a dumpster anywhere near it. It was the kind of project most contractors would walk away from.
The Yard Force didn’t.
Getting It Done
Crews and volunteers worked through the logistical challenge, carrying materials in piece by piece and clearing the space from the ground up. What emerged was an outdoor area designed for students to gather, eat lunch, and learn outside the four walls of a classroom — a functional, welcoming space where there had been nothing but neglect.
The courtyard was unveiled recently, and the reaction was immediate.
“We’re happy to come alongside them and help transform a space that otherwise was kind of forgotten,” said Clay Councill, owner of The Yard Force.
For Davis, seeing the finished result was hard to process after years of talking about what it could be.
“It’s kind of surreal because I’ve been talking about it for so long. It’s hard to believe it’s really real.”
Community Showed Up
The project didn’t happen in a vacuum. Donations came in from local partners and individuals — including people with no direct connection to the school who heard about the project and wanted to be part of it. That kind of community response is what makes a project like this possible when the budget isn’t there to make it happen any other way.
The story didn’t end at the ribbon cutting either. Mount Olive Elementary recently received a $25,000 grant from Casey’s Cash for Classrooms, which will fund the next phase of the project — shade structures, additional seating, and continued development of the space into a fully functional outdoor classroom.
What started with a snowplow and a crew showing up when they didn’t have to has turned into a transformed space that will serve students at Mount Olive Elementary for years to come.
This Is What We’re Here For
The Yard Force does land clearing, forestry mulching, and site preparation for property owners, developers, and contractors across Tennessee. But work like this — showing up for the community, using the equipment and the skills we have to make something better — is the part that means the most to us.
If you have a project, commercial or otherwise, that needs land clearing, brush removal, or site preparation in the Knoxville area, call us at (865) 290-8815 or fill out an estimate form at theyardforce.com. We’d love to help.
Read the original story on WBIR: Mount Olive Elementary courtyard transformed through community partnership
