By Donna Erickson
What happens when you bring together a new principal with a focus for positive impact, a teacher with a vision, a Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) with a mission, and a bunch of weeds? You create a garden that changes lives! At least that is the mission of this group at Holly Grove Middle School (HGMS), along with a Girl Scout troop, a Boy Scout troop, additional volunteers, and members of the National Junior Honor Society (NJHS).
No one really knows the origin of the garden. It’s believed to have started over seven years ago, but it had become overgrown and in disrepair. That didn’t stop Eric Burleson, when he became principal at HGMS in 2023, from seeing something more than just a bunch of weeds. Care of the garden was passed to PTSA President Jana Dux and PTSA Vice President Amanda Reed. During the 2023-2024 school year, a group of NJHS volunteers weeded the garden and turned over the soil. It once again grew over.
How could they keep this from happening? The PTSA wanted to make caring for the garden a priority, so they kept it on their radar by creating a line item in the budget. Jana Dux shared, “Something I’ve really noticed in my years volunteering with PTSA…is how easy it can be to tear something down but building something that lasts and making a place for things to grow — that takes much more time, organizing efforts, and community cooperation than we sometimes realize.”
At the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year, the idea of fixing up the garden was revisited. They knew they needed “people power” to get things done. Amanda suggested her Girl Scouts, Troop 201. Kat suggested her Boy Scouts, Troop 356. Both troops accepted and are working together in different phases to help build the new garden at HGMS. Also on the team is HGMS Extended Content Standards (ECS) teacher Kat Sokolowski.
Now, Eric’s hope for the overgrown garden to become something more than a patch of weeds is taking shape as part of a collaborative heart-centered mission. The team has a plan to clear the area and prepare it for something special.
The Vision? Make Learning Come to Life!
The garden is an ideal place for the extended content standards curriculum to be learned, led by Kat. She has big plans for using this outdoor space to make learning come alive for her students. One of the benefits of the garden area is having access to hands-on real-world elements rather than just talking about them. Kat and her students have already been able to work through lesson plans focused on building a volcano and watching it erupt, as well as building a river and learning about its systems. She says the garden will really never be complete as it will always be growing.
Kat and the team want the garden to be safe and functional, as well as accessible to all the students and their needs. It will be a learning platform for studying the life cycle of plants by actually planting something and seeing it all the way from seed to fruit or vegetable. Ladybugs and butterflies can be released into the garden which will demonstrate how plants and animals help each other. Kat’s vision also includes a few vegetable beds, a sandbox for science projects like the river and volcano, a sensory garden and a pollinator garden.
Phase 1: Start Again
In order to start again, the area had to be cleared one more time. It was overgrown with weeds in raised beds that were full of rotten wood. The scouts helped with this undertaking and shared these thoughts about their experience:
“The garden needed a lot of help. I’m happy we helped it and can’t wait to see it grow.” – Aubrey Bainlardi
“We worked hard, but it was really fun!” – Chloe Tennant
“It seemed impossible, but it was fun. I can’t wait to see it grow!” – Lauren McFee
“I felt like I was happy, but also kind of busy, because there were a lot of people helping.” – Madeline Reed
Phase 2: Rebuild
This part of the process is under the direction of Jack Kepke and Charles Sokolowski, two Eagle Scouts from Boy Scout Troop 356. Ms. Sokolowski is their troop leader. As a part of their Eagle Scouts capstone project, the boys are building three raised beds in the gardens, providing advantages such as easier manageability and accessibility. In the future, they will be adding benches or log stools for students to sit on while using the garden. An important facet of their project is to create something that will be both sustainable and manageable over time for HGMS and easy for staff to keep up with. Everyone involved is hopeful that members of the National Junior Honor Society or another group can come in at least once a week to help care for the garden going forward.
Phase 3: Rebirth
Girl Scout Troop 201 will be working on their Bronze Award in March 2025. The girls will be adding three beds to the garden area and filling all six beds with soil. The beds will be designated for three vegetable gardens, one pollinator garden, one sensory garden, and one sandbox for science lessons. They are creating 3D labels for each garden bed. Looking forward, other potential additions include a storage closet for garden tools, a barrel for catching rainwater, and a compost bin.
The project gives the girls an opportunity to help create something special for the school while completing their own mission of earning a Girl Scout Bronze Award. Requirements for the award include:
Complete a Girl Scout junior journey where they reflect on their values, self-discovery, connections, actions and learning.
Build a Girl Scout junior team where they look at special talents and get to know one another and their interests better to help decide on a project. They also discuss the difference between community service and the Bronze Award.
Explore their community to help find areas of need that match with their talents and interests to create possible project ideas to make a difference.
Choose their Girl Scout Bronze Award Project.
Make a plan and log at least 20 hours of volunteer work for each girl scout. This can include such things as researching the problem, talking to experts, talking to the community on what is needed, figuring out why the problem is happening, figuring out how to solve the problem in the present and going forward.
Put their plan in motion with each girl taking on some type of leadership role.
Spread the word after completing the project by thanking everyone who helped, putting their story together to share, and making sure they take time to celebrate!
Move on to the next level of Girl Scouts — Cadettes.
Phase 4: Maintenance and Sustainability
In order to keep the garden viable, the PTSA will keep it in their budget as a line item and incorporate it into the school culture. The NJHS will likely be a part of nurturing the gardens as well as possibly creating a garden club. As stewards of the garden, the ECS program will use it in their ongoing curriculum.
Be a Part of the Project
It was such a joy to talk with Amanda, Jana, and Kat about this project, the students, and their school principal. They are continually looking at ways to connect the garden to the culture of the school, including giving the garden a theme and naming the raised boxes to make the space more personal. The new garden is sure to encompass the essence of Holly Grove Middle School: “an inclusive community of learners that is focused on the academic and personal growth of each student, every day.”
If you are interested in helping with this project or learning more, please contact the PTSA vice president at vicepresident@hgmsptsa.org. Some current needs are volunteers, extra seeds, and gardening tools that are in good shape.
