Penn-Kidder receives grant to start school teaching garden

Penn-Kidder Campus held a meet-and-greet recently for partners on the Penn-Kidder Gardens Grant received from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

Pamela McElmoyle, seventh- and eighth-grade science teacher, submitted a grant proposal to DCNR for the 2018 Pocono Forests and Waters Conservation Landscape mini-grant.

The grant awarded in the amount of $2,800 was also matched for $2,000 by the SHINE Program.

The goal of the grant is to teach the school community about the area’s natural resources by establishing a school garden.

We hope students and families will develop a sense of responsibility and stewardship for the land through their active role in its development and protection. It will also create lasting school buy-in by integrating the garden into the science curriculum.

McElmoyle is working with Mike Wagner, science teacher; Brandon Knapp, STEAM; and Travis Andrews, Health and Phys Ed and Wellness Committee.

The second-grade class led by Sara Mass will also tie in with the project to create connections between the elementary and middle school students.

Partners include SHINE, Eight.14 Sales Inc., Turtle Tree Seed, Kidder Township Environmental Advisory Council, Jim Smith-Owner of Pine Point Plaza, Carbon County Environmental Education Center, and families of the Penn-Kidder Campus community.

During the meet-and-greet, partners were able to hear from students on what they have already learned in the classroom and share what their role will be in the partnership. Seventh- and eighth-grade students took the sixth-grade students and grant partners on a tour of the garden plot, the second-grade butterfly gardens, and the compost bin/seedlings. The Wellness Committee, led by Emily O’ Conner, an eighth-grade student, also shared how they researched, promoted and carried out composting during school lunches this year.

The Penn-Kidder Garden was financed in part by a grant from the Community Conservation Partnerships Program Environmental Stewardship Fund under the administration of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bureau of Recreation and Conservation administered through the Pennsylvania Environmental Council’s Pocono Forests and Waters Conservation Landscape Mini-Grant Program.