Growing interests at school
Garden lets students get outside and learn
Although rain would have probably been more beneficial for Most Precious Blood School’s new Discovery Garden, Teri Beam said she was glad the weather was clear Friday morning.
Beam, chairwoman of the biology department at the University of Saint Francis, helped apply for the grant the school received to pay for the garden, which will provide Precious Blood students with hands-on learning.
“I’m glad the rain held out,” she said.
Mayor Tom Henry, Beam, a representative from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources and other local officials were at the school Friday for the garden’s ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Ground was broken on the site in late April, and students have already planted vegetables and other plants. Joe Cochran, who helped with the design, said the garden has been a small attraction in the community.
“Even neighbors – non-parishioners – come over to say, ‘Wow, this is awesome,’ ” he said.
The sun shone as a chorus of high-pitched voices from students in preschool through fourth grade filled the air. Between the children’s songs, Principal Alexandria Bergman welcomed parents, teachers and students to the ceremony and explained how the garden came about.
Last year, Leslie Hamilton, a recent graduate of the University of Saint Francis and education coordinator for the Little River Wetlands Project, talked with Beam about applying for a $5,000 GreenWorks! grant. And the grant was awarded, Beam said.
Because one of Saint Francis’ initiatives is to promote outreach with the community, the university partnered with Precious Blood to create the garden.
A couple of weeks after the groundbreaking, students planted onions, lettuces, spinach and radishes in the garden, Cochran said.
Pumpkins will also be planted for the fall, and because the garden took on a Native American theme, vegetables such as Miami white corn and squash were also planted.
Cochran said the children were allowed to make the garden their own.
“We’ve let them run with it,” he said. “It’s fun to see the kids out here, particularly the young ones.”
A small pond is home to lilies and small fish, a webcam will be set up so students can watch the garden at any time, and temperature probes will be set up to provide a hands-on science lesson. Interactive boards in the school will enable students to pull up data from the garden, Beam said.
Everyone in the garden fell silent, and the school’s clock tolled noon as Henry and Rev. Joseph Gaughan cut the ribbon to the garden.
Jeff and Jana Rybolt, who have two children at Precious Blood, attended the ceremony. Jana Rybolt said her children were excited about the garden and had to stop by each Sunday at church to check on its progress.
“I think the ceremony was a beautiful ceremony,” said Jana Rybolt, who attended Precious Blood when she was younger. “It’s great for the kids to get involved with planting.”
