Vision

Students plant their dreams at the St. Rose of Lima community! Students in Kindergarten to grade 8 at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Elementary School worked together with many community partners to complete the “Plant Your Dream” Action Project. The students wanted to highlight the benefits of indoor plants and the pollinator related benefits of outdoor plants by hands on gardening experiences. This was accomplished in a few ways. We wanted to do this in a creative way and link it to the Career Awareness Day that was being hosted during Catholic Education Week, plus build community between the elementary school and the local high school.

This tied into the Religion curriculum with Environmental Stewardship, the Catholic Graduate Expectations of being a responsible citizen, and to various Eco Schools initiatives. Community was fostered through environmental consciousness and creating an appreciation for efforts related to environmental sustainability.

Action

A Career Awareness Day was organized with a Keynote speaker inspiring students to plant their dreams, nurture them daily, weed out negative thoughts, and be kind to yourself along the journey. This was intentionally planned knowing there was going to be a horticultural specialist from The Riverwood Conservancy leading planting workshops for every class in the school. Each class created an indoor plant for their classroom to increase air quality and each and every student in the school got to select a few outdoor plants to plant in a pot to bring home to their garden to attract pollinators. In addition to the planting workshop hosted by the horticultural specialist, there were many other community experts sharing their career journey and inspiring the students. Students were able to engage and ask questions to learn about the many possibilities available to them.

The local high school, St. Aloysius Gonzaga Secondary School, had their “Working with Children” class of grade 11 students spend the day at St. Rose of Lima. They were partnered with the Kindergarten students and helped them with the gardening workshop and assisted them while visiting the various community experts. The grade 11s also took the opportunity to explore their own dreams of working with children by planning exciting outdoor play stations and a quiet rock painting activity.

This was an interesting, interactive, and engaging day full of experiential learning! Students got to explore opportunities and try their hand at gardening. Some students have not gardened or planted before. This experience exposed them to the experience of gardening and encouraged them to take what they learned and try it at home. Students also learned about the health benefits to the calm process of gardening and all about the benefits of having indoor plants. They learned about the specific plants we were using and how they help improve air quality. Students also learned about pollination and how certain outdoor plants attract pollinators, which is beneficial to the environment. Pollinators are important to agricultural economies, our food supply, and our surrounding landscapes. Pollinators assist in sustaining the environment, which is important for the students to know.

As the students were planting their own plants, they were encouraged to think about their dream for their own future pathway. Hopefully this experience allowed the students to mindfully think about their future journey, enjoy nature, make an environmental impact, and plant their dream!

Reflection & Celebration

Staff at St. Rose of Lima and School Parent Council, specifically Mrs. Janik-Corvinelli (who organized the day) are very proud of the student leaders who hosted this Action Project. The students had wonderful ideas, took initiative, demonstrated enthusiasm and care, and put forth great effort. Congratulations on a wonderful project with intentional steps to make an environmental impact and to promote environmental sustainability.