Bottles to Blossoms – Green Team and Girl Scouts Partner to Improve School Campus in Mt. Washington

Walking the campus of Mt. Washington School you’ll see many a square dirt patch, devoid of color and foliage. Constantly under fire from budget cuts Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) does not appear to have campus beautification high on their funding priority list.  Yet if the district were to consider recent studies on the positive impact of green spaces for children they might be inclined to reconsider.  Progressively-minded schools across the nation and throughout the world have already recognized the positive effects of green spaces on learning and mental health. Recent developments in educational theory suggest that contact with nature facilitates children’s development of cognitive, emotional, and spiritual connections to social and biophysical environments around them.  It appears that even simple exposure to green spaces on a school yard or in a park are vitally important for children’s mental, emotional, and social health.  Imagination, creativity, cognitive and intellectual development, and social relationships are encouraged in outdoor activity, all of which improve the child’s mental health and function.   So the new rule might be if you want to improve your school’s test scores, go plant a tree and let the children play around it.   

In classic Mt. Washington fashion, a select group of parents have decided not to wait for LAUSD to realize the new science.  Calling themselves the Green Team, they took matters into their own hands and each Monday morning they stand outside the entrance of the school with arms outstretched.  Yet they are not asking for your money, only your empty bottles and cans.   In collecting donations of aluminum cans, glass bottles, and plastic they turn these recyclables into cash which is then allocated toward a special committee under the Friends of Mt. Washington School (FOMWS).  The Green Team’s mission is to create a greener school campus and in this year alone their efforts have raised over $2,000.00. 

Their first project will be to create an entry garden at the front gate.  The entry garden was designed by local landscape designer and Green Team coordinator Kathleen Ferguson.  As Kathleen describes her vision, “[because] the entrance to the school is secured by a large blue gate and fence we wanted the garden area to act as a natural complement to the blue steel. Our goal is that every morning students, parents and teachers will be greeted by a layered planting of California natives and non-natives with similar water requirements. Selected species include Coral Bells, Ferns, Dianella, Chinese Fringe Flower, and a Toyon for the corner which doesn't get much water. We feel that the combination of foliage, color, and texture enhances the space while welcoming faculty, students and visitors.” 

Campus beautification efforts were further supplemented with a $500.00 donation from the local Girl Scout Troop 1955.  The Girl Scout troop funds were raised from a Valentine’s Day dance they hosted at the school in February 2013.  Thanks to both the Green Team and the Girl Scouts, when the children return to school in the fall they will be greeted not by the same old patch of dirt but a new entry garden.  And hopefully, our brains and psyches will be the better for it.  

Interested in helping out the Green Team with their efforts?  Contact Kathleen Ferguson or Katherine Ferwerda today at Kathleen@kathleenferguson.com or katherine@k-yorkstudio.com.