Students cultivate garden through county program
Using Manito Park as their classroom, students from the Jefferson Elementary School Montessori program learned a little about agriculture this year.
Working with Master Gardeners from Spokane, more than 100 students spent a year planning, planting and caring for two raised beds of flowers and vegetables in the park through the Spokane County Adopt-A-Park program.
Even when school let out in June, families from the school took turns picking vegetables and tending to the beds in Upper Manito near 25th Avenue and Tekoa Street.
“They really took ownership of those plants,” said Sue Malm, a Master Gardener. “It was exciting to watch the students get so into it, to make a connection with the plants and the idea that they are responsible for them.”
The students planned the beds with the help of the Master Gardeners, and cultivated seedlings in the classroom before planting in May.
They students received a donation from the Lincoln Heights Garden Club to pay for the seeds and materials. The Parks Department constructed the beds and filled them with dirt, and supplied the daily watering.
The plants were a mixture of vegetables and flowers, including several large sunflowers, and potatoes and green beans.
“We ate the green beans for lunch today,” said teacher Sharon Bowman last week. “We are hoping to make this an ongoing thing.”
Students named National Merit semifinalists
Eight Spokane Public Schools students were named National Merit semifinalists last week.
The students listed by schools are:
Ferris: Laura Wisdom.
Lewis and Clark: Jeffrey Burkert, Elliot Eaton, Dan Marciniak, Theodore Newell and Nathan Robnett-Conover.
Shadle Park: David Rogers and Rachel Wagley.
The students are among roughly 16,000 students who will go on to compete as finalists for 8,200 Merit Scholarship awards, worth $33 million. More than 1.4 million juniors from nearly 21,000 U.S. high schools applied to the 2007 National Merit Program by taking the 2005 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.
To become a finalist, seniors must keep an outstanding academic record, be endorsed and recommended by the school principal, and earn SAT scores that confirm the student’s earlier qualifying test performance.
Spokane superintendent wins award
Spokane Public Schools Superintendent Brian Benzel was recently awarded a $5,000 scholarship from Educational Resource and Development Institute.
The funds for the 2006 Educational Excellence in Leadership Award, given by corporate sponsor Johnson Controls in conjunction with the institute, are to be used to help children in Spokane.
Benzel was awarded for his focus “on significant growth for all students regardless of race, ethnicity, income level or gender. Benzel also “exhibits leadership through his team approach,” officials with the organization said in a press release.