6-29-2023 1:31am

EISENHOWER INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL STUDENTS ARE NOT YOUR GARDEN-VARIETY GIRL SCOUTS

Donnella Tilery Editor

From the social media pages and press release

A troop of Girl Scouts who attend the Eisenhower Intermediate School put their green thumbs to work. And because of their commitment and skills at gardening, these rising 6th Grade students who make up Girl Scout Troop 61092 achieved an elite award. These gardeners completed their Bronze Award project right on the outside courtyard grounds at Eisenhower.

Troop 61092 received the award when they completed their mission to plant a pollinator garden at the school just before they finished their 5th Grade year in June at Eisenhower.According to Jennifer Chen, who along with fellow moms Sally Bartlett and Suzie Brown, serve as the Troop 61092 Leaders, the Bronze Award is the highest award a Girl Scout Junior can earn. Ms. Chen explained that the award is a girl-led, Take Action Project for girls in 4th and 5th Grade. To earn the Bronze Award, Junior Girl Scouts take an active role in determining what, where, when, why, and how they will Take Action.

Girl Scout Take Action projects address an issue by tackling the factors that cause or contribute to it and are long-term projects with sustainable and ongoing influence that addresses a root cause of an issue.

She reported that Troop 61092 explored the community, came up with a list of potential project ideas, and voted to plant a pollinator garden at Eisenhower. Ms. Chen said that the purpose of this garden is to help sustain the local pollinator population. One of the nine members of Troop 61092 agreed.“Our garden helps pollinators,” said Hannah Bartlett.

“Pollinators are decreasing.’’

Hannah also spoke about how the finished garden, which the girls accomplished on Friday, June 9, has a “very good impact on our school environment and it is nice to look at.”“This was our home stretch for the award,” said Hannah’s mother, Sally.Ms. Chen also revealed that more than 80 percent of the world's flowering plants need a pollinator to reproduce; and we need pollinators too, since most of our food comes from flowering plants. One out of every three bites of our food, including fruits, vegetables, chocolate, coffee, nuts, and spices, is created with the help of pollinators. She also explained that he troop has worked hard to research why pollinators, specifically bees, are on the decline, what can be done to change that, scouted a location on the school's property to plant the garden, researched native pollinator plants and their characteristics that would work best for the location selected, visited a local garden for reference, spent time preparing the space by weeding it, shopped for all of the supplies needed to plant and sustain the garden, and finally planted it.

“Our garden helps plants spread and reproduce,” said another member of Troop 61092, Andrea Fernandez. “Our garden will inspire people to garden.”Inspiring gardeners is a mission of the Girl Scouts at Eisenhower.

Ms. Chen reported that the troop has requested the creation of a Garden/Environmental enrichment club for the upcoming school year, in addition to the troop maintaining the garden throughout the summer and the 2023-2024 school year.Just before they finished with their fine product, the girls buried a time capsule, which included recent and memorable Girl Scout events.Here are the nine 5th Grade Girl Scouts from Troop 61092, or better known as the Gardeners from IkeAina Asimoglou, Hannah Bartlett, Simone Brown, Aaliyah Chen, Andrea Fernandez, Madeleine Hughes, Natalie Irwin, Joanne Mathew, or Kriya Venkatesan.They will next enter Eisenhower in September as 6th graders who are proud recipients of the cherished Bronze Award.