By Sue Wambolt, Contributing Writer
Westborough – Members of Girl Scout Troop 30508 have been getting their hands dirty at Mill Pond Elementary School. The troop recently constructed a flower bed around the school entrance sign and showed off their green thumbs by planting a host of colorful flowers – astilbe,?daylilies,?dianthus, coreopsis and salvia in yellow, orange, pink and purple. The project earned the girls their Bronze Award, the highest honor a Junior Girl Scout can achieve.
With the guidance of troop leaders Pam Smith and Terri Velez, Troop 30508 spent the winter educating themselves on gardening by researching plants and landscaping materials. In March, the group visited Westborough's High Hill Farm to look at flowers. Next came a trip to Lowe's where the girls selected stones for the path and the edging as well as the mulch. Once they had their material list, the troop priced out the project which they estimated would cost a total of $550, an expense they would be covering with Girl Scout cookie sales.
The aptly named “Let's Plant” project was presented to Mill Pond Principal Suzanne Kenny who, according to Smith, loved the idea. Finally, after approval by the “head of grounds” for
the school, the girls donned their gardening gloves and set to work.
With summer vacation right around the corner, the rising sixth grade girls in Troop 30508 have set up a watering schedule to make sure that the garden is taken care of during the summer months. They will continue to maintain the garden through the next school year until June when they graduate from Mill Pond and head to Sarah W. Gibbons Middle School. At this time they are hoping to find an incoming fourth grade junior troop to adopt it for the next three years.
“We are very proud of the girls,” said Smith. “It was gratifying that they picked a project where after months of hard work they could really see the results. In the past our Scouts have made dresses for Sewing for Hope and dog blankets and toys for an animal shelter. This project allowed them and the community to see firsthand what a girl can do.”
(Photos/submitted)