HOULTON, Maine — Before putting the final pieces of wood into place, students at a Houlton-based alternative school each signed their names with a heart on the inside of two large, cedar raised garden beds they are building as part of a community beautification project.
In two days, students at the Summit Academy built the beds, measuring, drilling and piecing the 84 inch-by-30 inch wooden beds together in front of the Military Street school as they bring their year-long plan to life. On Thursday, they will add the soil to the raised beds before planting.
Many of the student builders are part of the Summit Academy Seven Summits Adventure Based Therapy program, led by Kim Larkins, a licensed clinical social worker.
Students in the Seven Summits Adventure Based Program have seven nature goals they plan as a group like skiing, hiking, taking a listening walk; seven personal goals they plan individually like trying to stay calm, getting a job, reading a novel; and one community goal, also selected as a group.
Their community goal is the gardens, designed to give them a sense of caring, coping skills, increased physical activity, teamwork, and a special connection to nature proven to enhance mental health and wellness, said Larkins.
project. (Kathleen Phalen Tomaselli | Houlton Pioneer Times)
Research has shown that spending time with your hands in the dirt improves outlook, reduces stress and anxiety. This year, scientists at the University of Colorado found that gardening not only reduces stress, it reduces cancer risk. And researchers at University of Florida found that gardening lowers depression in healthy women.
Mental health services are grossly underfunded in public education. Children cannot learn if they are focused on the daily stress and anxiety that some children experience from past or ongoing trauma in their lives, said Larkin.
“Most people do gardening to get out of their head,” said third-year student Meadow Nelson, 16, as she and Kaitlyn Spinney, 16, talked about how getting out in nature is healing.
And student Alexis Collett, 16, added that she views the garden beds as art because they created them and being out in nature and listening is part of being mindful.
Summit Academy, a regional alternative high school with about 30 students, provides options for students who have not been successful in a traditional school environment. Collett and Nelson both said before coming to Summit Academy they were always falling behind and their grades suffered.
creating as part of a community project. (Kathleen Phalen Tomaselli | Houlton Pioneer Times)
Now Collett’s grades are good and she is able to make and achieve goals she sets, like taking the Certified Nursing Assistant training and getting a job, she said.
And Nelson freely talks about how supportive everyone is and how she is never behind on her coursework.
“This is a school for kids who think outside the box,” she said.
This collaborative initiative between RSU 29 (Houlton), SAD 70 (Hodgdon), RSU 50 (Southern Aroostook) and SAD 14 (East Grand) was created about four years ago with $570,000 grant from the state under its Fund for Efficient Delivery of Education Services program.
Our program’s versatility, intensive behavioral supports, social and emotional supports, individualized instruction and remediation, and flexibility in schedules are some of the ways we help students meet state and local graduation requirements, said Larkins.
Volunteers Mac Randolph and Nancy West helped the students build the beds by showing them how to measure the wood and put the pieces together. Randolph was busy all day measuring, leveling, re-measuring and cutting the pieces for students.
“Some were reticent at first,” he said. “But now they are measuring, screwing their work together and leveling.We were happy to help.”
The garden bed project was made possible by a $1,000 grant from Vital Pathways, a Houlton-based non-profit. Moosehead Cedar Log Homes donated the lumber and J. McLaughlin Construction donated the supplies and gravel.
