High schoolers use Community Studies project to make a difference

Year Ten students from Cummins Area School in South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula have created a sensory garden for children who attend the rural care and preschool program at their school. 

 

Local news source The Port Lincoln Times shared that two Year Ten students, Toby Modra and Will Blacker, combined their efforts for their Community Studies project to come up with the idea.

 

Speaking candidly, Master Modra explained that his teacher suggested the project “and I went along with it really”. Master Blacker joined in the efforts to create the garden, noting that most students made benches or seats, but that the garden represented a point of difference.  

 

A new student will shortly join the preschool, and her additional needs, being blind, would make the sensory garden especially welcome, the pair said. 

 

“Toby was more of the research sort of person…we had to pick something that smells nice, feels soft not like a cactus, and something that looks pretty for the other kids,” Master Blacker said.

 

After five or six weeks spent removing the old and overgrown plants, the young men planted strawberries, parsley, geraniums, lambs ears, lavender, marigolds and agapanthus, much of which was donated by locals in the area. 

 

Sarah Wohling, coordinator of the preschool and rural care program, praised the boys for their efforts, saying they worked “so hard”, and that the garden will be an asset for years to come. 

 

While the garden was for everybody, children with additional needs were considered when deciding what to plant, with Ms Wohling noting that it will attract birds, as well as encouraging the children to engage all five senses while exploring the plants. 

 

To read the original coverage of this story, please see here.