June 22, 2023 (Cornwall, ON) – Students learning at the Dev Hotel and Conference
Centre, which has been serving as a satellite location for newcomer students set
to attend Bridgewood Public School,
are reaping what they sow after winning top prize in the Canada-Wide LSF
Empowering Youth for Climate Action Awards.
The Climate Action Award came with a $3,000 grand prize that
will go toward funding and enhancing an outdoor learning space at Bridgewood
P.S.
The class began the growing project in January with help
from Williamstown Public School
Kindergarten teacher, and recent Red
Apple Award winner, Rose MacCulloch, and local hydroponic manufacturer ZipGrow
Inc. The company donated an indoor hydroponic system to create a ‘growing
wall’, where Grades 3 to 6 students were able to plant, water, and monitor the
indoor garden.
The outdoor garden process began in March, with all the
plants relocated to a permanent location on the east side of the building in
June. Vegetables in the garden include cucumber, tomato, jalapeno and eggplant.
Dev Centre students are new
to Canada and are offered the opportunity to learn
essential social skills and English prior to being immersed into the Canadian
school system at Bridgewood Public School. They come from various countries, including
Afghanistan, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Peru. For many, this project was
their first experience with gardening – and the first time using hydroponic
methods for all.
“I learned that plants need sun, plants need
rain and soil like this to grow,” said Grade 5 student Usman Jan, who’s
favourite vegetable is tomatoes.
"I liked
watching everything grow,” added Grade 4 student Reeman Awadalla. “My favourite
part is watering every day.
“Having
this real-world learning experience in the classroom really helps engage the
students because we started with meaning,” explains Crystal Seguin, a teacher
at the Dev Centre and the one who spearheaded this project. “Food is something that connects all of us, and
for them to experience it hands-on, in real-world experiences, really means a
lot more than learning from a video or a textbook. Food has really
brought this class together and engaged them in learning language.”
The community garden was able
to teach students all aspects of the curriculum, including language
development, math, social studies and science.
“This has been an exciting project that has been driven
by the students,” said Bridgewood Public School Principal Julie
Pollock-Iwachniuk. “Not only have they continued to build their English
vocabulary through this RWL opportunity, but the project has connected many
community partners with our school. We are thrilled that this community garden
will benefit the newcomers to Canada throughout the summer. It’s a project we
hope to continue in the fall.”
The project also transformed
a classroom initiative into a collaborative community effort, with the
assistance of the UCDSB’s real-world learning team, including high school
students and staff from the green industries class at Cornwall Collegiate & Vocational School
(CCVS), Malyon Excavation, who provided the soil, Transition Cornwall+, who
helped plant the garden, and The Dev Centre, who provided the garden site, and loaned
the tools.
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For media inquiries, please contact:
April Scott-Clarke
Manager of Communications
Upper Canada District School Board
[email protected]