Our student council would like to rehabilitate an 18' x 18' undeveloped and unsightly corner of the school's property into a BBB garden: birds, bees and butterflies. By supporting the natural ecosystem, we hope that we can build a corner that helps pollinators in our local area thrive, while also providing a beautiful, peaceful spot for reflection and appreciation of the importance of nature and science.
Purchasing the materials needed to rehabilitate the soil, plants to attract pollinators, and a self-sustaining watering system.
The final product was worth the effort! Once we were able to purchase what was needed, the garden installation was smooth sailing after that. The kids enjoyed gardening, many for the first time, and we look forward to it growing into a beautiful place for pollinators to feast and help keep our ecosystem healthy.
We learned: patience, determination and that it takes a village to make dreams come true! Covid lockdowns delayed our legacy project by almost three years and dried up funding from many sources. We also were lacking key staff members needed to okay a project of this nature. But we never lost sight of our goal and thanks to the grant from Roots and Shoots we were finally able to bring our pollinator garden to life. And we could not have done it without the advice and support of many people within our school and the greater community who helped us with the information and products we needed to make it happen.
The way we approach other projects and what we know is now possible if enough stakeholders are involved. We will always take a collaborative approach and never skip getting professional input before starting any project.
The installation. We had other classes join us, we have younger grades watering on a daily basis, and the kids were so excited and many wound up loving the process. They had alot of fun watering and putting the finishing touches on the garden, and their smiles were worth all the sweat lol.
Always get the advice of professionals before embarking on any project you have no experience with. Stay patient--many different types of approvals and partnerships are needed for projects like this. And reuse and recycle when possible! Fun fact: kids like playing in dirt--so take advantage lol.
