After experiencing COVID-related restrictions to field trip education, Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens’ Youth and Family Programs Manager, Erika Huber, was inspired to rethink how she might support environmental education for local students.

In spring of 2021, she launched a pilot program with four classrooms at Boothbay Region Elementary School (BRES). The project included an engaging, developmentally appropriate curriculum, gardening supplies, and a grow light for each classroom. She developed it to suit the various grade levels in the Boothbay Region’s Rocky Channels School System, with curricula ranging in topics from pollinators and decomposers to plant life cycles and growing your own food.

A natural expansion of the program included a closer look at the BRES gardens, located in a shady site with no water access. Huber started a conversation about the garden’s renovation with BRES leadership and, with the help of a $2,500 gift from First National Bank, has refreshed the school garden so that it can be a sunny, vibrant place of learning for young people from throughout the region.

“The new garden now has a water line installed close by and consists of 12 raised beds,” she says, “but there is space for more beds as interest grows.” The after-school garden club helped her fill the beds with soil and spread mulch between them, and the summer school students planted fruits and vegetables. Huber also plans to use the beds next spring as an extension of the weekly classroom gardening program with the PreK-second grades.

“From the inception of this idea we saw multiple benefits,” says Shawna Kurr, Principal of Boothbay Region Elementary School. “One of the most notable was that we had to figure out additional coverage during recess to allow students to shovel and move material to prep the gardens, which was a great problem to have. And teaching our students about healthy food, how to grow it and then prepare meals and snacks is an invaluable lesson, not only for our students, but our community as a whole,” she continues. “We are fortunate to have the Gardens and Erika supporting this work. It's an investment in education, nutrition, and the sustainability of our community.”

“First National Bank is so pleased to support the school garden project at BRES,” says Susan Norton, First National EVP and Chief Administrative Officer. “Getting students outside and fully understanding where their food comes from is a valuable lesson to learn.”

Huber agrees. “Anything I can do to get people excited about nature makes me happy, and gardening really opens the door to getting kids curious about nature and where their food comes from. If we can get them interested at a young age, we are setting them up to be future stewards of the earth. One of our goals at the Gardens is to do just that. I’m really grateful for First National Bank’s support—this is a project with a lot of potential and I am excited to see where it goes.”  

To learn more, visit MaineGardens.org. Please note, the Gardens requires tickets to be purchased in advance.