Giving Back

   Phyllis Wilson, a member of the Texas Master Naturalist of Cypress Basin made the drive from her home in Longview to help rehabilitate the pollinator garden at the Jefferson Primary School. While Diane Mabus and Kay Lowery, both Master Gardeners, made the drive from Linden, garden gloves and clippers in hand. All determined to help make a difference in the overgrown butterfly garden at the Jefferson Primary School campus.

Ms. Wilson stated, “This is a wonderful mentoring opportunity between the high school and primary school students, Collins Academy staff and volunteers. For a small town like Jefferson, to have an organization like Collins Academy, the project organizer, is wonderful. We don’t have anything like this in Longview”. She said, “I am here for the kids, a sentiment echoed by all the participants. “I want to see them get interested and excited about the outdoors. Having the students involved in this project will give them a sense of ownership and something to admire, that they played a part in, she concluded.”

And, the students were involved. Members of the Jefferson High School Horticulture Class, guided by Agriculture Instructor Ryne Sikes went to work at the school, pulling weeds, digging and pruning the overgrown garden. But it didn’t stop there. The students, as they do throughout the school year, had grown and tended the plants that would be planted after the prep work was completed. The plants, fresh from the high school greenhouse included, verbena, mealy blue sage and milkweed, all certain to attract butterflies, honeybees and hummingbirds to the area.

Fifty Primary students, filed out in orderly lines anxious to see the progress being made on their garden. The High School students serving as mentors, placed plants in tiny hands and helped them dig holes for the plants.

Mr. Sikes, a DeKalb native new to Jefferson, was delighted with the
participation by his students. He said, “It is great to see the older students teaming up guiding the young ones. Of the project, Sikes said, I want to inspire the kids and teach them life skills. Something they can use and be proud of as they get older. We couldn’t do this sort of thing without the help of Collins Academy, they are always willing to step in, be it providing seeds, soil or supplies. We really appreciate them.” Sikes said he plans to bring his horticulture students back to the primary school to help maintain the pollinator garden throughout the school year. In addition, his class will help primary students make seed balls for dispersal at Brushy Creek at Lake O’the Pines as part of a habitat remediation project with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In this way, the younger children can participate with the high school students in a larger, remote project.

C.J. Woods, a 10th grader at Jefferson High School, who is considering becoming a veterinarian, said, “I love to garden, I’ve done it since I was a kid. It teaches life skills and responsibility. It is great being here with the kids today to help reclaim the pollinator garden for them.”

Madilyn Singleton, also a 10th grader said she loves the Horticulture Class. “It is a great experience for us to be able to go to other locations and help them with their gardens.” While Yannira Gonzales, said, “This project is pretty cool, coming out to help the kids is great”. Of the Horticulture Class, “we are like family, we have each other’s backs, and we enjoy helping with community projects, she said.”

Expect to see Jefferson ISD students and Mr. Sikes working with Tony and Marsha Jones on the pocket park across from the Jefferson Post Office and at Port Jefferson History & Nature Center with Collins Academy staff in the near future.