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published: Wednesday, September 29, 2010

HAART students learn about pollination through new program

By SAMANTHA GHOLAR

sgholar@newssun.com

SEBRING -- The Bert J. Harris Agriculture-Civic Center in Sebring welcomed some 150 students from each of the county's elementary schools on Tuesday morning.

The Highlands County Soil and Water Conservation District teamed up with the Extension Office, the Natural Resources Conservation Service and other various organizations and individuals have put together a program for Highlands County HAART (Highlands Advanced Academics Rising Together) students.

"Every HAART Kid in Highlands County are here, K-5, to learn about pollination. They will all put in a pollinator garden at their elementary school," explained Corine Burgess.

Burgess is the Natural Resource Specialist with Highlands County Natural Resources Department assisting the Highlands Soil & Water Conservation District and was enthusiastic about the students getting the basics of pollination.

The various stations within the Civic Center included compost, where each child planted a wildflower seed to take home; Enviroscape, where children learned how buildings, humans, and wildlife affect the environment; as well as a bee station, where they were taught how bees help to pollinate.

Students rotated through eight stations learning different aspects of pollination, gardening and the environment in order to help with their gardens.

"This is a kick off to have them learn about what pollination is. They learn about bees, they learn about worms, they learn about plants -- everything they need to be good, environmental stewards of that garden," explained Burgess.

Other station volunteers included Carlos Torres and Jorge Juevara of NRCS. Torres and Juevara taught students how to plant seeds and all about worms at the compost station.

"We show them how to plant and how the worms work in with the composition. They get a seed to plant and take home with them. It's a wildflower and it attracts all kinds of things -- bees, hummingbirds. So they can see how pollination works at home," said Torres.

The first-time event was put together by numerous donations and volunteers. The Soil and Water Conservation District donated the money to supply each school with a compositor. The county Extension office supplied a rain barrel to each school, and the butterfly station was run by butterfly expert Betty Podmore.

"Overall the kids seem to be having a great time, they are very attentive," said Burgess. "They always like all the things that are squiggly and wiggly, so I'm going to say their favorite stations are probably the butterfly, bees, and the composite stations," Burgess said.

The workshop runs in conjunction with the students' current studies. The curriculum the children are learning is all about "Backyard Habitats." They have been studying and learning about the five main ecosystems found throughout Florida.