By Laila Henderson
Annon Etheridge, a teacher at Clinton High School, led then 15-year-old Lula Davis and her classmates to a grassy corner between the wall of the school and a bush. This occurrence was not unusual, as he would regularly take his students outside to conduct coursework; however, today was different. This outing was planned to commemorate a valuable member of their class, one who was no longer with them.
The day itself was sunny but chilly, which felt right for this occasion. Once the students arrived, they circled around Mr. Etheridge. A white man with brown hair and a short stature, he was a lively individual and the type of person who never seemed to have a bad day.
“Does anybody want to say some words?” he asked.
Only the seniors had the courage to speak during the service. Davis listened as they shared their grief about the passing. Though the words varied from person to person, one belief remained consistent in all their speeches: “He was too young to die.”
As part of the ceremony, Mr. Etheridge grabbed a shovel and began to dig in the center of the students. Once the hole was large enough, he lowered an object into the ground: the remains of Edison, their class plant.
‘Where’s the Plant?’
Just two weeks prior, it was Davis’ turn to take Edison, the cucumber sprout, home. He was alive and healthy then with a thick stem and green leaves. Her time with the plant had come and gone with no issue.
When the next week rolled around, it was another classmate’s turn to care for Edison. No one batted an eye because, after all, everyone was expected to keep the little guy alive for the week, and students had passed Edison around without incident so far. “There is really nothing that could go wrong,” Davis thought.
She was mistaken.
Before class started on that fateful day, Davis walked over to the boy who had kept Edison for the week, but she did not see the class mascot.
“Where’s the plant?” she asked the boy, leaning into the pot.
Then, she saw it: the brittle and colorless corpse of Edison, their beloved cucumber plant.
Sleep, Creep, Leap
The death and funeral of Edison, though undeniably tragic, was one of the many highlights of Davis’ botany class. Davis initially took the course just “trying to get the credit,” she says, but the more she went to class, the more she began to enjoy it. This was mostly thanks to her teacher’s attitude. He seemed to enjoy botany as much as the students, making the class fun, so much so that Davis began to grow plants at home with her little sister.
“Lula, come outside and help me plant these!” her sister would beg.
Davis occasionally helps her sister Lila plant sweet potatoes and pumpkin seeds. By herself, Lila is not very good at planting—but that’s “probably because she is 8,” Davis says.
Davis’ favorite plant is an aloe vera that she keeps on her bedroom window sill. She plans on taking care of more in the future, as she aspires to be a botanist. Davis, currently a rising senior, wants to spend two years at a community college and has her eye set on the University of Southern Mississippi to earn her bachelor’s degree. When her friends question the appeal of the subject, she responds, “It’s beneficial to learn this stuff.”
Davis says it is most important to know which plants are beneficial to people’s health—another passion.
Even with her foray into journalism, Lula joined the Youth Media Project for summer 2025 to investigate health disparities. “It’s good to keep up with (health disparities) to understand the things that are going on with our health-care system and things that could be improved,” she says.
Davis found that journalism is a good way to communicate with people. She has always wanted to improve the health of others, originally planning to go into cardiology, but when she found out about the medicinal properties of plants, it sparked her interest in botany.
“I would love to do something like traveling, going to different nations and researching their plants. But when I say traveling, I (mean) go to Canada, go to Europe, go to South America, just traveling in general to research different types of plants,” Davis says.
Davis would love an internship in Brazil, where she would be able to explore the Amazon and its beautiful wildlife.
Click here to read more about third-year YMP student-mentor Laila Henderson, who wrote this piece about fellow Youth Media Project student journalist Lula Davis.