For at least a decade Greenbelt’s Rotary Club has been supplying crayons, composition books and assorted other supplies for the kids at Springhill Lake Elementary School.  I know this because Rotary Club member Helen Svensen was tabling at the farmer’s market this summer, asking for donations for a long list of needed items.  (Rulers and glue sticks are still needed but nowadays, flash drives, too.)

Helen also told me about the butterfly garden she and other Rotarians created at the school  in the fall of 2011, and I asked if I could come see.  I visited one day in late September when a handful of volunteers, including school associate principal Chris Wichtendahl, were doing fall clean-up and installing lumber edging.  One of the volunteers was Roosevelt student Ojaswi Pandey, who’s earning community service credits by working here and told me she wants to start a Rotary Club chapter at Roosevelt.

John Ujhazy, chairman of this project for the Greenbelt Rotary Club, was also part of the clean-up team.  He explains that one of the purposes of this garden is to create a science lab using native plants, a lab that will engage students on many levels.

He didn’t have to convince ME of the benefits of beautifying the school and teaching kids about plants and butterflies, but this particular butterfly garden caught my attention with its international outreach.  It’s one of 23 Monarch Sister Schools in the DC area, and they partner with schools in Mexico on this project, via email and, coolest of all, Skype!

I begged to be invited back to watch during butterfly hatching season, when the kids here watch the big event in Mexico via Skype, with Spanish-speaking Springhill Lakers serving as interpreters.  Click here to see a video of the Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary in Mexico.

The Monarch Sister Schools program also provides a curriculum so that the garden becomes integrated in the school’s entire program.

Coming soon to the garden are benches, gates to protect the garden from being trampled accidentally, and signage to explain what’s going on there.  It’ll become a sitting and strolling park for the whole neighborhood.

Even at this early stage (and barely a year old is young for a garden) I can tell this garden will indeed be beautiful.  And that’s exactly the idea.  As Helen told me, “Poor children who don’t have anything don’t need to come to a school that looks ratty and unloved.”

In our region, school butterfly and vegetable gardens sometimes face the frustrating reality that gardens often look their best in the summer, when the kids aren’t even there.  So I asked about that and learned that at Springhill Lake there are plenty of people around in the summer to appreciate the garden: a special ed summer school, a church that meets here, and activities put on by the county’s Parks and Rec Department.

Plus, the plants were carefully selected to have plenty of interest during the school year.  Help with plant choice and lay-out was provided by botanist Chris Puttock.  (His resume is here, along with others in the organization.)

The funds for the garden come in equal parts from the local Rotary (which has just 15 members) and district-level Rotary Clubs.  To donate either funds or labor (no experience needed – they’ll train you!) contact John Ujhazy.