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Students from
Bay Haven
School of Basics Plus enjoyed bountiful harvests throughout the year
from their thirty EarthBoxes – container gardens of organic vegetables.
Their project, "EarthBoxes to SpaceBoxes: Growing Food in School Today, In
Space Tomorrow" won first prize in the National EarthBox Contest. It
was made possible through funding from the William G. Selby and Marie Selby
Foundation, the Bank of America Client Foundation, sponsors of an Education
Foundation of Sarasota County, Inc. grant, and prize money from EarthBox
Inc.
Students at all grade levels learned important scientific
principles by working with the EarthBoxes while learning about
nutrition from the school nurse. And what better way to impress upon
students the advantages of eating locally grown food as part of a
"go green" lifestyle?
By selling their EarthBox produce at the 2009 Bay Haven Spring
Festival, students raised more than $300, which they used to sponsor
a ShelterBox. The nonprofit
ShelterBox Trust
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provides assistance to victims of natural disasters. A ShelterBox
contains a ten-person tent, cooking stove, blankets, cookware, water
purification equipment, and other survival essentials. Bay
Haven students’ ShelterBox went to Sumatra, Indonesia, to aid
survivors of a 2009 earthquake that claimed the lives of more than
1,300 people.
 Students
continued to learn from this experience in discussions in science
and social studies classes. With the enthusiastic support and
dedicated teamwork of the many Bay Haven parent volunteers,
teachers, administration, and generous grant sponsors, students
realized they can make a difference as responsible stewards
of this planet and as caring members of a global community.
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