“Outside Pride" Grows on NDCL's Campus

The newest project supporting Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin School commitment to sustainability is aptly named "Outside Pride," a raised bed to grow pollinators. The Lion’s "Grrrdening Club," led by science teachers Nathan Smith and Adrienne Fox, applied for and received a $500 grant from the Geauga County Master Gardner's Association in November. With a collective effort of students and teachers, stratified Milkweed seeds were planted indoors in early March. Students then built the raised beds, measured the square foot grid and started a pollinator bed.

“We hope to provide learning experiences for students, a habitat for native pollinators and produce local food for the school cafeteria,” explains Adrienne Fox.

In 2009, NDCL held a 2-day corporate campus conversation on Sustainability sponsored by Fairmount (Minerals) Sandtrol. In appreciative inquiry format, students and faculty came to understand the importance of social responsibility in stewarding our planet. Since that time, the school has committed to making small changes in the way they live and share resources. Outside Pride looks forward to fully developing all of these possibilities as the next school year approaches.

Nathan Lewandowski and Oliver Struger build a raised bed planter for NDCL’s garden project.

Garden Club students, Megan Elerisch, Emily Ambrose, Molly Goergeon, Stephanie Hetki, Madeline Spicer and Abigail Heublein, lay out the square foot grid for NDCL’s the pollinator garden.