Teachers, students, contractors and gardeners of the Cherry Hill School District met to discuss the future of East’s greenhouse today in room C110 after school.
After the school was granted $5,000 from the RecylceBank by point donations from community members, plans to reconstruct the greenhouse have been put into effect in order to begin planting and growing seeds this upcoming spring. Mrs. Erica DeMichele along with other teachers wrote the grant for this project for the RecycleBank Green Schools program. In addition to the greenhouse, an organic garden will also be growing in the courtyard in between B wing and C wing with the help of the new composter. Students in the Environmental Studies classes have already begun bringing in food scraps to contribute to the composter. With help from students, landscapers, gardeners and other volunteers throughout the community, the garden will soon become a reality.
The Kresson Road Ecology Site, Center for Transformation, STEP, Sustainable Cherry Hill, RuCraft Designs and the Griffen Greenhouse & Nursery Supply Construction Department as well as East’s Sustainable Cherry Hill East club and the Environmental Club are just a few of the organizations throughout the community who are volunteering their time, effort and resources to improve the Cherry Hill East greenhouse in any way they can. East will be gaining compost, seedlings and tools for the garden as well as manpower to get it started.
The main goal of the greenhouse and garden is to educate the students about sustainability by utilizing hands-on experience with gardening. “Sometimes we can lose sight of the goal, but ultimately it’s for the students,” Mrs. Erica DeMichele said.
There is talk that working in the greenhouse will be incorporated into the curriculum of the Environmental Studies’ classes but most of the work will need to come from volunteers who can participate after school and on weekends.
If anyone is interested in volunteering or donating materials of any kind, please contact Erica DeMichele at edemichele@chclc.org
Lori Braunstein • Jan 12, 2010 at 9:47 pm
Just a correction: The $5000 was provided by RecycleBank following the donation of points by community members! A grant for this project was written by Erica DeMichele and other teachers for the RecycleBank Green Schools program.