Garden Shows High Schoolers Future Possibilities

Posted in Learning Experiences on February 2 2010, by Plant Talk

GEAR UP Introduces Students to Careers in Plant Sciences

Yadana Desmond is Program Coordinator and Instructor for the GEAR UP program at the Botanical Garden.

It was a cold Saturday morning in January, a day off for most students, but 27 ninth graders from area high schools were intently studying the artwork in the gallery exhibition of the LuEsther T. Mertz Library and the plants in the Garden’s Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, absorbing every detail to later create their own ink and watercolor illustrations. In the afternoon they would go on to make cell and anatomical observations of plant slides under the microscope. And this was just Day 1 of the 9-session course.

It was all part of GEAR UP, a federal initiative administered locally by the Bronx Institute at Lehman College that partners with community institutions such as the Botanical Garden to prepare middle and high school students for college and careers.

Each of the program’s sessions—held on Saturdays—will provide students a behind-the-scenes look at the various integrated plant sciences at the Garden, through group activities and by witnessing some of the Garden professionals in action at the William and Lynda Steere Herbarium, the Haupt Conservatory, the Nolen Greenhouses for Living Collections, the Institute of Economic Botany, the Pfizer Plant Research Lab, the GreenSchool, the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden, and the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden.

This year’s program builds upon the three offered in previous years, and will continue to incorporate local community initiatives like internship work with the Bronx River Alliance and providing assistance to local gardens and urban farms through the Garden’s Bronx GreenUp program. As part of the curriculum, the students will conduct lab experiments, prepare specimens for the Teaching Herbarium, teach their own lesson plans about plants, and meet with Garden staff and other invited guest researchers.

So much has been planned, but we hope to keep the program flexible enough to allow for the influence of the students’ own interests. Our aim is to encourage them to make a personal and creative connection to the Garden and to plants, and to careers working with plants. It looks to be a very exciting season—and we hope to share the experience with you through this blog!