Gardens Eyed for Huntington Primary Schools
In a nod to the past, gardens are coming to the four primary grade level buildings in the Huntington School District. There once was a time when such gardens were commonplace, with students and staff tending to them, most notably during World War II, but there hasn’t been such a wide scale initiative in years.
Amber Kavanagh, a Huntington High School student who is working on her Girl Scouts’ Gold Leaf project is collaborating with David Casamento, district director of science and instructional technology to make the gardens a reality.
“We will be designing the gardens at each building and then Amber will do some fundraising and get some people to assist her in the building of the gardens,” Mr. Casamento said. But, the project is not as easy as it might sound.
The Huntington Foundation awarded Jefferson Primary School a grant for a second garden there and a $2,000 Lowes Toolbox for Education grant will help fund a garden at Flower Hill Primary School. Gardens are also planned for Washington and Southdown schools.
The garden sizes will vary from building-to-building, based upon the each school’s design team. The gardens at Jefferson School measure about 10-by-15 feet. No decisions have been reached about the sizes of the other gardens.
In terms of what is being planted, again, it will be left to the buildings to decide,” Mr. Casamento said. “However, I envision vegetables, flowers, maybe herbs, and maybe a butterfly garden. I have distributed a ‘getting started’ packet to all the principals and it gives them some ideas of what should be planted. I am hoping to get started in early March with planted set for late April or early May.”
The building gardening committees are yet to meet. But, “the fact that we have funding for two buildings is a huge step,” Mr. Casamento said. Ms. Kavanagh will be heavily involved in all aspects of the project.
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