REGENT PARK PUBLIC SCHOOL GRADE 6/7 GARDEN DESIGN PROGRAM

For the second year, the Orillia Museum of Art & History and Parklane Landscapes, a local sustainable landscape company, have partnered to offer a unique program to students from Regent Park Public School.

The objective of this program was to enhance knowledge transfer about the benefits of youth actions to naturalize shorelines and reduce the impact of stormwater runoff to Lake Simcoe receiving waters.

This program provided students with an opportunity to learn about native plant species, garden designs and their function for ecological protection, stormwater management, habitat restoration and climate resiliency. 

In this program the museum and Parklane Landscapes presented a hypothetical case study site for the grade 6/7 students at Regent Park Public School to learn environmentalism through art and design. This year, we chose the site of Veterans Memorial park,  located at 154 Elgin Street, for its historical importance, its location along the lake shore of Orillia and the opportunity to educate students on the value of native plants in shoreline management. 

For each student, the finished project required five deliverables: 

A poster on native planting
A planting scheme
A clay sculpture of a gargoyle
A paragraph describing why native planting is important to them
A letter to the City of Orillia advocating for more native plants at Veterans Park, their ecological benefits and their contribution to stormwater management.