Coverage Source: The Daniel Island News
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By Jennifer Johnston
Maybe it wasn’t the most expected way for a group of teens to spend the free part of an early-release school day, but it was certainly one of the most pleasantly productive.
On Monday, January 9, sixteen Bishop England High School students participated in a Garden in the Park event at their adopted pocket garden in Etiwan Park. Several of these students are members of BE’s Options Program, a group which provides inclusive education for students with intellectual disabilities.
Options Director Martine Boudreaux tells us, “In addition to a variety of differentiated teaching strategies and interactive technologies within general education classrooms, the Options students are further supported by our peer mentoring systems.”
These mentors fall into two groups: the Options Scholars academic mentors, and the Band of Buddies social mentors. “Through the use of these mentors, students in the Options Program enjoy a typical high school experience,” Boudreaux expounds, “And play central roles in academic, athletic, social, and service activities.”
And the service activity du jour was Garden in the Park, a program of collaborative effort with the Charleston Parks Conservancy, a nonprofit dedicated to beautifying Charleston parks and green spaces. Through the Conservancy’s “Park Angels” concept, volunteer groups (from clubs to classes, sports teams to co-workers) are approached to help maintain a particular green space. The Conservancy supplies the groups with all the necessary equipment and provides a brief but comprehensive training.
Neves Richards, Volunteer Coordinator at the Charleston Parks Conservancy, describes how this partnership is a real win-win: “There’s a great education component as well. Our Angels start out as volunteers, but learn techniques to use on their own homes. They leave knowing how to compost, use mulch, cut back, and plant.”
But it was perhaps the team-building and social elements that won over Boudreaux and BE’s Service Project Coordinator Mary Durst when they were contacted by Richards and the Conservancy’s Education Coordinator Mary Horton back in the fall. The Options students and their Band of Buddies had participated in previous campus-wide garden projects in the past, so teaming with the Parks Conservancy seemed a great opportunity to expand the students’ service opportunities.
“Beside the obvious benefit for students to experience and appreciate the beautiful parks and the hard work involved to maintain their beauty, there is an even greater benefit to the students' relationships with their peers,” imparts Boudreaux, “Research indicates that the best way for students from diverse backgrounds to establish meaningful friendships is to develop an appreciation for what each person contributes to the overall group.”
The Band of Buddies and their Option cohorts appreciate each other more with every event. From service projects like the Buddy Walk to social activities including movies and tailgating, the alliance helps the Options students establish meaningful friendships, practice social and communication skills, and develop positive peer relationships. In turn, the mentors develop an understanding that students with intellectual disabilities have similar hopes and fears, and that they are all “more alike than different.”
In the two hours of their Garden in the Park event, the students worked in pairs or small groups, trimming back designated sections of the garden and planting bulbs. Paul Wentz, the Charleston Parks Conservancy horticulturist in charge of the Etiwan pocket garden, was also on hand to lend guidance and direction. Students and leaders alike were thrilled to have an unseasonably warm day and a blue sky under which to green their thumbs and shoot the breeze. When asked what he thought about a day like that, Options student Dylan Riker was succinct and sincere: “I love it!”
The entire group will return to Etiwan Park to prune roses for their next Garden in the Park event on Saturday, February 11. The pocket garden, installed at Etiwan in June 2009, is a fall garden that hasn’t required much attention until now. It is also the only garden maintained by the Conservancy’s volunteers that is on a sprinkler system. But with the TLC it receives at the hands of some of Bishop England’s buddies, the garden is sure to flourish in tandem with those friendships.
“When students work toward a common goal - in this case, maintaining a rose garden - they begin to see each other's unique talents and interests,” Boudreaux relates. “Don't tell the teenagers that, though – they are just here to have a good time with their friends!” And as for that sacrifice of a precious half-day of school? “Well, we fed them subs and chicken nuggets, too,” Boudreaux chuckles.
To learn more about volunteer opportunities with the Charleston Parks Conservancy (remember, no experience required!), contact Neves Richards at neves@charlestonparksconservancy.org or visit www.parkangels.org.
