Environment Day workshop at Thebarton Senior College
For World Environment Day on Wednesday 8 June 2016, Thebarton Senior Collegeheld a Sustainability Expo showing students’ entries in their Poster Competition, student recycling relays and stalls run by invited community groups.
Thebarton Senior College is for students aged mostly between 18 and 30 years, many of whom have recently arrived from overseas and are learning English, vocational skills and doing SACE.
Sustainable Communities SA ran a workshop teaching students about wicking beds made out of mostly recycled materials in polystyrene broccoli boxes.
Vivien, Mahima and Monica collected broccoli boxes and plastic milk bottles to provide the structure. Mitre 10 gave a 10% discount on the potting mix and geotextile. Pauline donated seeds and seedlings. Bradley transported the potting mix to Thebarton in his trailer in return for LETS units. Vincent Tarzia’s office kindly photocopied the instruction sheet. Barb, Mahima and Monica turned up on the day with a pile of boxes and bottles and other materials.
Many of the students already had vegetable gardens at home and were keen to learn about a garden bed that uses little water and is easy to maintain. A total of over 40 students in 3 classes participated in a busy hour and a half. They gathered around, listened to the theory of the water flow, and put together the framework, filled in the potting mix and planted seeds and seedlings in 20 boxes. Later they returned to collect their boxes and take them home.
We enjoyed fruitful interactions with the students in the workshop and hope to have the chance to attend again.
