Community First: School Spotlight
We are proud to support several local nonprofit organizations in our community. We have done so since our company’s inception. We choose these groups because we believe in the work they do, and we don’t want to keep that work all to ourselves. We’re excited to share some of it with you in a new segment on our blog: Community First, posted at the beginning of each month.
August in Florida means back-to-school, so for our inaugural edition of Community First, we’d like to celebrate the local schools we support, and share a few of their initiatives with you.
Bay Haven School of Basics Plus: Bay Haven is a leader in sustainability in the scholastic community, with their unique “Food Forest,” an edible gardening experience for their students. Our team has supported them with volunteer labor and plant material.
Pineview School: Pineview students consistently impress with their creativity. Soon, their campus will display some as well: an homage to some of the teachers that have shaped these students and their mission. We are happy to donate design services to this special project.
Southside Elementary School: Southside is also a leader in local school gardening, with their edible landscape growing bigger each year throughout the campus. We have supported them with soil and labor to install garden plots, pollination education for their youngest classrooms, and design services for their designated wildlife habitat. Now, we are redesigning the school’s courtyard to incorporate interactive pollination and artistic elements, further engaging the students.
St. Martha Catholic School: We were honored to have been invited to facilitate a design charette for students of all ages at this innovative school. They frequently welcome professionals from the community to discuss their work and present real-world projects with actual problems and solutions. It’s a unique, collaborative approach we wholeheartedly endorse.
The University of Florida: It’s no secret that this office is, and always has been, well-stocked with Gator alumni. We have supported the University’s Department of Landscape Architecture for over a decade with scholarship awards for students that show outstanding potential, and this spring, we offered a guest lecture and desk critiques to their Planting Design studio. The Department is constantly striving to be the finest institution of higher education in the state for our profession.
From the youngest elementary students to those graduating from college, we support education in our community. We are excited to see such a strong integration of landscape architecture and gardening initiatives into our local schools.