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Chester High School Garden

Decent Essays

Every day teachers overcome obstacles in the classroom, problem-solve on the go, address failures and challenges, work to create better ways to engage students, and improve methods of educating. Yet, so many of these moments, these everyday victories and triumphs go unnoticed. Teachers are constantly working to support their students and create more accessible and diverse opportunities. In our small district, many of these new ideas and efforts are personally and individually spearheaded by the teachers themselves, who lead, implement, and follow through to make their vision a reality. Thankfully community partners, parents, businesses and individuals readily and graciously offer support and resources to support teachers and students.

This is beautifully exemplified with Kathleen Copeland’s Lifeskills garden at Chester High School. The Life Skills class encourages independence and functional life skills to 7th-12th grade students with moderate to severe disabilities. While Chester High School does not have a school garden, Kathleen was inspired by the PUSD garden workshops last year and input from fellow staff members to start a garden at CHS with her Lifeskills class. She shared, “ I felt that a garden would offer a …show more content…

Builders Supply donated the wood for the garden boxes and then the CHS construction class led by Paul Harding built them. Every Blooming Thing donated 20 bags of soil, Chester True Value Hardware donated the automatic timed watering system, Greenville High School donated the sprinkler heads and hoses, and Maintenance built a fence to keep the garden area contained and critters out. Additionally, Kathleen relayed that Dan Brown, who back in 2007 spearheaded and continues to oversee the now thriving production garden at Greenville High School, “was a tremendous help, he donated the seeds, and offered his expertise and support on starting a

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