001Welcome HD. Target has donated money to us to help us get this terrace area looking good again. So today we were introducing the compost kit that was donated to us from Target. They also wanted to be more a part of our community. So they invited us to apply for a grant. And one of the projects that we thought we could do is to revitalize this third floor terrace. We've put together a curriculum that is in itself sustainable. And the idea is that these kids would be actually working in the garden learning a skill. We love working with Strive and everything they're doing. It's just amazing that it helps us to really build an inclusive environment. When I think about our relationship with Target, they've been very um supportive and just the grants that they've um
002allowed us to participate in, when we think about the opportunities for our students to connect in the community, we always want that opportunity for our students. And the next activity will be where we will actually be planting up here in the gardens and using composting fertilizer to mix in with that. So that's kind of one of the basic things that we'll be doing, but we will continue to maintain it beyond that. We have about six volunteers and we're just being paired up with group of students to help them plant the initial seedlings that they've been growing in house as a part of their gardening programs. Well, so there's been a lot of behind the-scenes work this year leading up to this to today's planting event. My Latin students looked up the binomial nomenclature of the
003vegetables that we were planting and made the little planting labels for them. So, we tied the sustainability activities in with content. You have radishes. Julia, where's Julia? Julia. Julia, look at what you prove. They're learning how to work together. They're learning how to like collaborate and it's also even for the teachers because we're the teachers are also learning different ways of helping their students and this hasn't been just one lesson. This has been a multitude of lessons throughout the school year starting from last year. We've been working with them for over two years now and we've actually had two of their students um apply for a job and we had one Matt graduated who is still working with us and so uh the school has really stretched us in a very big way to be
004our best selves. It's fun. I was just helping out and I just like helping so here to help. For me, I like the way like we all come together and like we have events with them. So, it's like nice getting to know them and like being with them because they're all very welcoming and they're very happy. So, it's like really nice like hanging out with them and doing these things with them. When they're doing these lessons, it's more than just doing the lesson itself. It's communicating with each other. With their IEPs, they have to learn um how to do it step by step. So, this really is teaching them that this is the first step and then they're going to the next step and it's like a building block. the connecting the dots of that
005it's not just this one day, this one project, that this is going to be a longstanding relationship with Shrivever, with Target. This program really has planted seeds in so many ways that hopefully we'll see grow in the future. We can also align that to their growth, right? their growth in academics, their growth in social skills, their growth in um being able to go into the community and to transition without incident. Right? So, we're seeing growth with a plant, but also growth as you think about it in life as well. Thank you, Target.