The PTA is pleased to announce the winners of the garden naming contest. The winning name was revealed at the Holte Harvest Festival on Saturday.
Garden Naming Contest Winners:
Josie Arthur and Eliza Wrenn
Garden Name:
The Dandelion Garden
‘The humble dandelion, by roadside or mountain side it flowers
every month of the year throughout the world, a fitting symbol of life.’
Abstract from “The Dandelion Seed” by Joseph Anthony.
Susanna Raffenot announced
the Outdoor Classroom
will be named
Hudson House
The following remarks were made by Susanna Raffenot at the 2009 Holton Elementary School Harvest Festival on Saturday:
As a way to express the enormous thanks for all the time and effort it takes to start a project like this, I would like to share the story of how the project got started.
This morning, it literally struck me how the garden story relates to a story that my son Julian selected from the library this summer. Ironically, it is called The Dandelion Seed.
Almost a year ago, Stacy Murphy emailed Ellen and me from LA asking if we wanted to chair the Holton Family Festival as a group. We said yes, and as we were working right here, we started to notice the existing gardens.
At the same time, information on youth gardens arrived in the mail. An idea and a seed were born.
As seeds go, this idea could have met the demise of most seeds.
But like the seed in this book, it was blown by the wind. I like to consider our wind to be Mr. Hudson who has advocated and supported us within the school, School Board, City Council and various city departments.
The seed was planted!
What else do seeds need to grow?
Sun! The sun is all the volunteers and community members who are here today to support and grow the gardens. Ellen Shepard, who should be up here too, has been my ‘partner in dirt’ blowing this seed to various gardens in VA and who traveled with me to Cleveland; the fabulous landscape designers and architects, Mary Lorino and Frank Hancock; the amazing and energetic festival committee led by teacher of the year nominee Liz Vermillion, K1 teacher Kim Lavach, and kindergarten parent Kim Fowler, and truly everyone who is here. There are over 100 volunteers to thank.
Water! And water we’ve had. The Holton PTA provided the deluge of Ida-like water to support this idea. Thank you for your confidence and support of this project. Again, Mr. Hudson has watered this project by providing the picnic tables that will serve as outdoor classroom seating. And thank you to the Samuel P. Pardoe foundation, courtesy of Spencer Ballou’s family; all the organizations present here including GPRA for their generous grant; and to Luck Stone Corporation for providing 42 tons of stone dust for the pathways.
As a very special thanks to Mr. Hudson for being wind, sun and water, we would like to dedicate the Classroom formerly known as ‘The Bug’ to him, calling it Hudson House from here on out. We would also like to present you with a thank you from all of us for your generosity and help.
**Pictures taken by third grade teacher Austin Mitchell.
