This project employeed an optimistic approach of implementing environmental education in the public school setting.

It is important for me to give students the oppertunity to learn about nature and interact in nature.

For my senior project, I created an all-native plant habitat to be used as an outdoor classroom. I strongly believe that the educational system needs more alternative teaching outlets. I decided that it would be a wonderful idea to create an all natural, and all native habitat in which students and teachers could use as an alternative learning environment. The project employed an optimistic approach of implementing environmental education at Sugarloaf School located on Sugarloaf Key, Florida. My aim was to teach companionship and stewardship about the natural world to students enrolled in the public school system. The all-native habitat is located in the heart of the school and teachers can teach integrated lessons from multidisciplinary aspects, including science, math, writing and humanities. I encountered many obstacles while trying to make my vision a reality. The main problem was getting funding and donations from local businesses, organizations and plant nurseries. Another huge obstacle was convincing a landscaping company to do machinery work and take legal responsibilities when it came to the insurance policies of the school I was working with. I found that sending email to over 100 neighboring businesses and organizations would not be sufficient to raise the funds needed for this specific project. I hand to reach out to my community on a personal level. I traveled and spoke to each business personally. By explaining the project I received a lot of support financially whether it was donated time, money or materials. I had a variety of local nurseries donate plants and soil, and most valuable of all, their time and machinery work (particularly the Green Dream, 10,000 Palm, and Marc House for plants). I then contacted government businesses, the Aqueduct Authority specifically, requesting grant money for an ecological responsible project. I finally received a grant to install rain barrels and an irrigation system to sustain the habitat for years to come, ensuring the school of no financial burden. I ended up raising over three-thousand dollars worth of plants, sixteen-hundred dollars worth of soil, and four thousand dollars in labor. Dozens of people and businesses were eager to help and showed a genuine passion for the project. Everybody wanted to see the habitat succeed. Though I had the support of the local donators, I still had a long way to go to see my dream become an actuality. I planned and organized around everyone’s schedule considering the project was pro-bono. This was not easy. Being well prepares and keeping a well organized portfolio along with a well organized day planner helped immensely. I inspired the school to use my native plant habitat as a prototype, and they are now planning to create four to five more habitats. In addition, the school has asked me to develop a week long curriculum and teach, which I taught in the end of March of 2009. The lesson plans consisted of hands-on and stimulating learning activities and are aimed towards inspiring exploration and stewardship. The project was successful. It was a powerful experience in which I have grown from immensely. I could not have done it without the education I received from Prescott College and from my community which showed great amounts of enthusiasm and passion. The habitat is beautiful and added significance to the School. The students seemed to glow while in the habitat, being outside studying the plants through exploration and kinetic learning. The Keynoter and the Key West Citizen are two local news papers that picked up on my actions and documented the entire project before and after. I will never forget that to obtain a vision of any matter there will be obstacles along the way, but none too big to cross. I know that my convictions and determination will always allow me to prevail no matter how big my dream is.

It will give students the oppertunity to experience nature while developing stewardship with the natural world.