"Budding Botanist", 2020 edition

New criteria for the edition 2020-2021

Given the limitations posed by distance and hybrid learning options, applications that propose projects focused on the creation of virtual garden-based learning opportunities or take home gardening kits to better serve students engaged in remote learning are also encouraged and accepted. 

 

The prize

Each grant recipient will receive a package of tools and educational materials valued at $200 along with a check for $1,000 to spend on the materials needed to install a new or expand an existing school garden. 

This initiative is a way to teach youngest citizens to respect their world and inspire them to take care of the life they discover in their local ecosystems.

Winners will be announced by December 11, 2020.

 

Les 15 gagnants de l'édition 2021

Anderson Mill Elementary School (Austin, TX)

Anderson Mill Elementary School is excited to expand its existing growing space to include a pollinator/wildlife garden, a rain garden and a drought-resistant garden.

 

Bessie Weller Elementary School (Staunton, VA)

Teachers at Bessie Weller Elementary School will run hands-on gardening activities for distance learning students by giving them take-home growing kits all about the life cycle.

 

Celentano Biotech, Health and Medical Magnet School (New Haven, CT)

This school will distribute gardening kits among students taking part in distance learning, giving young people the opportunity to create micro-greenhouses and container gardens that they can share with their families.

 

Charter School of the Dunes (Gary, IN)

In partnership with the Gary Food Council and Purdue Extension, the school plans to run an after-school programme that will allow students to become certified as Junior Urban Farmers.

Chimacum Elementary (Chimacum, WA)

The school will carry out a native plant propagation and habitat restoration project that will result in a native “rain shadow” garden and a water capture system.

 

Crain's Creek Middle School (Carthage, NC)

Crain’s Creek Middle School is looking forward to adding native pollinator refuges in their garden to be used in conjunction with a STEAM Learning Garden elective course.
 

Crystal Lake Middle School (Lakeland, FL)

With the help of their local water authority, students at Crystal Lake Middle School will design and build a rain garden as part of a larger project focussing on the ecological impact of rainfall run-off and water pollution.

 

Freeman Elementary School (Flint, MI)

Freeman Elementary School will expand learning opportunities in their garden by installing a monarch butterfly station, Michigan native flowerbeds, a bird habitat and more.

Glenwood Springs Elementary School (Glenwood Springs, CO)

The teachers here are excited to turn their dreams of a high-temperature, drip-irrigated, solar-powered greenhouse tunnel at Glenwood Springs Elementary School into a reality.

 

Indiana School for the Deaf (Indianapolis, IN)

The school will bring an old greenhouse back to life and purchase hydroponic equipment as part of an agricultural exploration programme providing vocational training for young people.

 

John Dewey High School (Brooklyn, NY)

Students at John Dewey High School will receive individual hydroponic lab kits to expand science-focussed home learning opportunities.

 

Nathaniel Hawthorne School (Milwaukee, WI)

The installation of raised beds will go hand-in-hand with a large-scale initiative to transform a tarmacked playground into an attractive nature-inspired landscape at Nathaniel Hawthorne School.

Robert Louis Stevenson Elementary School (San Francisco, CA)

Robert Louis Stevenson Elementary School will provide all students with take-home educational gardening kits, featuring California native plants, to enhance their weekly virtual gardening lessons.

 

K. William Harvey School of the Ronan School District (Ronan, MT)

With the help of the wider community, K. William Harvey School plans to revitalise Polliwog Park, a growing space dedicated to Montana’s native plants, ecological history and food crops grown by local indigenous communities, including the Séliš, Ql̓ispé and Ktunaxa peoples.

 

The Volcano School of Arts & Sciences (Volcano, HI)

The Ka Mala Maluhia (“peaceful garden for children”) at the Volcano School of Arts & Sciences will feature an abundance of native Hawaiian plants, ranging from vegetables and herbs to medicinal plants and varieties that attract pollinators.

 

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