Kolter Elementary School

Kolter's garden is part of our outdoor learning center. The primary goal of the garden is to get students excited about growing their own food. We believe that people who are better informed as to how their food is grown are better prepared to make healthy choices as to what fuels their body. Our hope is that getting these students involved and invested at an early age will create a lifelong habit of healthy living. Additionally, we have learned that kids who have participated in the gardening process are more likely to try new foods. By introducing the concept of composting, we would be able to illustrate the importance of sustainability. Currently, the green waste from the garden has to be disposed of in a dumpster on the other side of the school. A Compost Station will help convert that waste into something useful in our garden and instill a sense of environmental stewardship into our students. The cost of planting materials such as soil and fertilizer currently takes up approximately a third of our gardening budget annually. Composting would allow us to create our own planting materials allowing us to use our budget to make other improvements to our school grounds. Extra money would go to expanding our garden and purchasing additional educational support tools.