Planting For A Colorful Spring

Tuesday, September 7, 2004

That’s what the students and staff at the Helen Field Learning Center will be doing this fall because of their Gardening Committee’s commitment to helping their special needs students truly experience the fun of performing gardening tasks. The students at the school are severely physically and mentally impaired and range in age from three to twenty-six years old. The curriculum is designed to not only educate the students to their fullest ability but to expose them to many enjoyable and enriching, day to day tasks as well. The gardening program fit those goals to a ‘T’ because it could provide the students with new, hands-on experiences. So in March of this year, the Gardening Committee entered the Bulb Awards contest sponsored by the National Gardening Association, the International Flower Bulb Center of Holland, the Dutch Bulb Exporters’ Group and the North American Flowerbulb Wholesalers Association. Their entry detailing the school and what a garden would mean for the students, earned them the top prize of 202 premium bulbs which will arrive at the school in late October, ready for planting and holding the promise of a colorful spring.