Vision

The students decided they would like to support the local ecosystem by planting fruit trees, shrubs or perennial plants that would provide food for the school and community. We hope that by planting fruit trees we could reduce the amount of fruit that the school purchases thereby reducing the need for fruit shipped to the school. We hope that the PawPaw trees we plant will also support some of the members of the community who are experiencing homelessness.

Action

They researched the local growing zone and reached out to local experts to decide which plants to invest our grant money in. They narrowed the list to raspberries and blueberries. The more the students researched, the more they realized that raspberries and blueberries require care throughout the summer that we could not provide. The students explored more resources in our community and one of our staff members, who is also a member of the local Horticultural Society, suggested that the students look at planting PawPaw Trees. PawPaw trees are indigenous to Ontario and have disappeared from our local ecosystem. The students researched suppliers, unfortunately there are currently no local suppliers, and purchased 6 trees to plant.

In addition to planting the trees, the students plan to design a sign to help educate the public about the project and how to eat a pawpaw fruit.

Reflection & Celebration

The project is currently in progress and will take years to see the intended results. Through working on this project, the students involved have become more aware of the considerations for planting native plants and about what is involved in growing plants in an urban school environment. They have also grown awareness for the needs of the local community and are putting deep thought into how they can use the sign to ensure that the community knows they can use the fruit from the trees as well.