CHARLOTTE — St. Gabriel School students can now enjoy playing and exploring in a dedicated garden where they can learn about the care of creation, thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor.
On Sept. 21 Father Richard Sutter, pastor of St. Gabriel Church, blessed the new 1,575-square-foot garden and adjacent pavilion located behind the school.
The fenced garden includes nine raised garden beds constructed of cedar and installed with built-in irrigation. Six of the garden beds are dedicated for students in each grade level (kindergarten through fifth grade) to use. Two of the garden beds are dedicated to the school’s STEAM curriculum, and the remaining garden bed features a picturesque sundial surrounded by flowers.
Teachers in each grade level decide what they would like to plant in their garden bed based on what they are teaching in their classrooms. Students in kindergarten learn about the life cycle of a butterfly, for example, so kindergarten teachers plan to use their garden bed to plant milkweed, a vital food source for monarch butterflies.
“The benefit of the garden will be a teaching opportunity for all teachers with their science curriculum,” explained Principal Michele Snoke.
Snoke noted that teachers are enjoying the opportunity to enrich their science curriculum with the unique hands-on experiences the garden provides.
The school pavilion has 480 square feet of covered learning space for use by St. Gabriel students and teachers. The pavilion includes built-in benches for seating, a rain barrel used to illustrate the importance of resource conservation through the harvesting of rain water, and a closet to store all the garden tools and teaching materials that the school will use on site.
The pavilion can also be used even for non-gardening purposes – for religion lessons or just to teach outside, Snoke said.
The project cost more than $75,000 and was fully funded by an anonymous donor.
“It has been awesome to see students planting a variety of plants, from marigolds to lettuce, in the garden beds,” Snoke said. “Students are excited to watch their plants grow from beans to sprouts.
Our second-graders have already begun gardening in their assigned area. We look forward to seeing how their lettuce harvest turns out.”
Snoke feels grateful and blessed to have what she described as an amazingly supportive parent community at St. Gabriel School and Parish.
“The generous support and time given to us by our families allows us to provide our students with several resources and an enriching environment.”
— SueAnn Howell, Senior reporter
Pictured: Father Richard Sutter, pastor of St. Gabriel Church, blesses the new St. Gabriel School garden and pavilion Sept. 21. Pictured above (from left) Father Sutter; Amy Bokor, PTO president; Katherine Costello, 2019-’20 PTO president; Melissa and Dan Siever, project managers; Brian Balzer, landscaper with The Grounds Guys; Ryan Windt, architect with Urban Building Group; Danny Kelly, builder with Kelly McArdle Construction of Charlotte; and Dr. Greg Monroe, diocesan superintendent of schools.