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SOS Team Plants Hope for Future

ISLAMORADA, Fla. (601 words) – Crab Wood, Jamaica Caper, and Sea Oxide Daisy are plants most kids will never hear about but the Seasons of Service (SOS) Team at Montessori Island Charter School in Islamorada knows a lot about them – hands on. Phyllis Mitchell, a master gardener, helped the team plan what native plants to plant at the Plantation Hammock Preserve (PHP) on Plantation Key adjacent to Founder’s Park on the north side. By testing out of a structured learning class, these advanced students were eligible to be a part of Monroe Youth Challenge Program’s SOS Team as an elective for credit and are near completion of the grant project. As part of their recognition, they hosted an Earth Day celebration for the school last week with science lab, art, and planting stations in the court yard.

As a project of MYCP, the PHP restoration was made possible by a State Farm Grant for $6,100. That allowed MYCP to purchase GPS units and GIS software for the students to use for the service learning project. The Monroe County 4H Extension Service provided training for the GPS units as well as color copies of a native plant brochure the students created. The Red Cross also supported the team by providing the team their Keys Kids Care T-Shirts and hurricane preparedness kits the students distributed at the Upper Keys Rotary Nautical Flea Market in February. The Islamorada Village of Islands Landscape Committee helped the team by approving the project.

In addition to the class time under the leadership of Montessori Island Charter School Assistant Principal Bridget Dangel, each of the 11 members on the team earned more than 50 hours of community service. Dangel said, “I’m proud of this class for taking on such a complex project. They have made improvements at the hammock preserve and planted hope for the future.”

The SOS Team is near completion of this mitigation project in three sections entitled by the students as Acorn Plot, Seashore Hillbillies and Aurora Triangle. Acorn Plot is on dry land to the north near Executive Bay Club. Seashore Hillbillies is on the beach area and required plants that are more drought resistant and salt tolerant. Aurora Triangle is between three mahogany trees, a poisonwood stump and a palm tree in the southwest corner.

Members of the SOS Team, all of whom are in the fifth- or sixth-grade are Claire Brutger, Mallory Dye, Ileana Garcia, Brandon Hopper, Chloe Kohl, Tyler Rieke, Mack Saylor, Austin Segarra, Amanda Stevens, Willy Stone, and Nick Walker.

Starting in January the team took photos to identify the areas they wanted to help mitigate from hurricane damage. Chloe Kohl, a sixth-grade student, said, “We had to identify what’s there and decide what we wanted to put in.” Then the SOS team wrote their mitigation plan, made a presentation with color maps and printed lists of native plants to be used for the Village Landscape Committee to approve. With the okay to move ahead they planted more than 30 native trees and shrubs. As they worked, they recorded each plant with Global Information Systems to complete the maps using a GPS. While the planting is done, students still have to meet requirements of the grant which are to make presentations, pass out a tip sheet to the general public, make a scrapbook and mat some photographs..

Monroe Youth Challenge Program is a project of the Monroe County Education Foundation to foster acceptance, respect, and success in the youth of Monroe County. For more information contact Michele Sutter at (305) 852-1664 or visit www.monroe.k12.fl.us/mycp. For information on native planting Native Plant Nursery on Plantation Key provided all the plants. A free native-plant brochure is available at the school.