With bags of mulch in hand, over 300 students arrived at school Saturday, March 26 to take part in “Plant the Pride,” the annual day of gardening and restoration. Students pulled weeds, spread mulch, and picked up trash around campus.
The sophomore class’s student government historically plans the event, which functions as a sort of “spring cleaning” for the school grounds. Chris Fisk, the sophomore class president, organized the endeavor with his class sponsor, Susan Kaplan.
“Planning the event was the least of our worries. The most important thing to us was the look of the school,” Fisk said. “We have such an amazing reputation and our school’s appearance should match that.”
Though Fisk hoped for record-breaking attendance this year, several school conflicts may have drawn students away from Plant the Pride.
“I think the turnout is good, but there are a few competing events like the AP review workshop and FCAT academy that took a bunch of students,” Environmental Science teacher Pamela Shlachtman said during the event.
What the event lacked in volunteers was compensated by the amount of materials donated by students and organizations. Several teachers gave extra credit to students who brought in mulch.
“We have more mulch this year,” Shlachtman said. “Science Competitors used some prize money and PTSA donates one thousand dollars every year.”
With so many resources available, spreading it proved to be the main priority of this year’s “Plant the Pride.”
“We’re cleaning [Palmetto] up, but I don’t really like how we’re putting a layer of mulch everywhere,” freshman Thomas David said. “We’re just covering up the grass that was already there.”
Shlachtman, however, was satisfied with what the student volunteers accomplished this year, namely with the pine rockland, the small ecosystem next to the band room.
“We did a few things different from last year. Pinecrest donated a Pine tree and we put down a weed barrier. The pine rockland actually got finished this year,” Shlachtman said. “Our big goal is to start the organic garden and really get the pine rockland in shape so we can start restoring it.”
