Miami Palmetto Senior High has various greenspaces on campus, and the Student Council’s Environmental Outreach Board has plans to add another area for the school to enjoy. Environmental Outreach Board Co-Chairs and seniors Cassandra Pita and Sara Kramer proposed plans for a native plant garden at MPSH and have begun making the garden a reality.

The idea for a native plant garden came about when Pita and Kramer considered the importance of South Florida’s Native American population and its historical influence on the local environment — especially concerning the plants which come from the region.

“It was back in November that we came up with this idea to plant a native plants garden because we wanted to do something that honors Native tribes. It was still maintaining respect and acknowledging that we don’t really have a viewpoint that contributes to rewriting the narrative about Native Americans and the mistreatment of Native Americans in Florida and in the United States, so we came up with the idea to plant a native plant garden. The whole purpose behind that is that we wanted it to go along with the Native American philosophy to live with the land and to honor the greenery and the surroundings we live in,” Pita said.

Pita emphasized the important environmental consequences of which plants are used in greenspaces.

“The plants we normally use, like regular grasses, are not really eco-friendly as much as they are green because they use a ton of water and they’re not native to Florida’s ecosystem, so they actually end up being another drain on Florida’s resources,” Pita said.

Kramer explained how the duo plan to obtain the appropriate plants for the garden. Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden has offered to provide MPSH with the plants needed as a way of promoting awareness about the importance of native plants.

“Fairchild has this really cool education program where they work with schools and any group that wants to teach other people about protecting native plants. So, I reached out to this woman at Fairchild and she gave me resources. Basically, we get native plants for free for our school, as long as we teach our community about the benefits of native plants and how they’re contributing to our environment,” Kramer said.

While the garden is still in the planning phase, Kramer and Pita express their excitement for the prospect of MPSH’s very own slice of nature grown here in South Florida. The duo expressed a desire to set an example for future Environmental Outreach Boards.

“As members of [Science National Honor Society] and Co-Chairs Environmental Outreach Board, we want to make our green impact on Palmetto,” Kramer said “You have to start somewhere, so we’re making the first step.”