A Summer of Studying Native Plants in Maine, Made Possible by Shore Grant
By: Betsey Holland, S.A.I.L. Teacher, Pre-K - Grade 2
Shore has two travel grants: the Parents of Graduates (POG) Fund Award and the Loring Award. The grant requirements are slightly different, but both are meant to support a teacher in traveling to an area that relates to their curriculum. I applied every year I was eligible, dreaming up a new amazing opportunity each time. I teach S.A.I.L. (Science and Art Integrated Learning); I could go anywhere and study anything! I proposed studying caterpillars in Costa Rica, traveling on a riverboat in the Amazon, tracking penguins in Patagonia, visiting art studios nationwide, and birding in the Southwest. Finally, in 2022 I won the POG Award, and they announced I was able to go on my trip to the Southwest! That was amazing news. The timing was hard, though, as I was pregnant with my son. Birding in the Southwest with a baby did not sound like a good time, so I deferred my travel and reimagined the trip once again!
In the winter of 2024, my son was two, and life was becoming more predictable. I still wasn’t ready for a two-week international trip with a toddler in tow, but could imagine small overnight trips. I started thinking about visiting botanical gardens and taking classes from experts. I manage Shore’s Learning Garden and love to garden in my spare time. That’s when I stumbled upon the idea of obtaining a Certificate in Native Plants and Ecological Horticulture at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. I had been learning about native plants on my own and was eager to take a deep dive into the topic. Each course had both a virtual and field component; the field portions took place at the botanical gardens in Boothbay, Maine. The certificate required fourteen courses, with a total of at least sixteen visits to the gardens. While I wouldn’t be traveling far, I would be immersing myself in mid-coast Maine, which is certainly a different landscape from Beverly, Massachusetts. Thankfully, the Administrative Team supported my decision, and I was given approval to sign up!
Starting in March 2024, I took a course, either at the gardens or online, every two weeks. During my first course, Soil Science for Gardeners, I looked around and realized I was in a classroom full of other plant enthusiasts. I got to spend two whole days learning about, talking about, and looking at plants: my dream come true! From the very first class, I came back to school and applied what I learned both at home and in my classroom. Kindergarten students learn about soil communities in the spring, and in the spring of 2024, they added microbes and fungi to their soil collages that hung in the Lower School Art Show. After taking Fundamentals of Botany, I found a highly detailed scavenger hunt for 30 different leaf types and took the second graders on a wild hunt around campus to find them. Even the kids who claimed not to like plants were engaged and eager to earn the most points. Some of my favorite classes were ones focused on plant selection, such as Selecting Native Herbaceous Plants and Selecting Native Woody Plants. There are so many plants in the world, and I can always learn about a new one!
Each trip to Maine required a little jigsaw puzzle of childcare. I took a different friend with me on every trip, and they would watch my son, Walter, while I got to enjoy a blissful eight hours of learning. My son went to farmer’s markets, playgrounds, book stores, on epic walks along the Maine coastline, friends’ houses, the beach, and of course, to the botanical gardens several times. I am so grateful to Shore for sponsoring these trips and to my wonderful friends who helped me achieve this opportunity. In the end, I didn’t get to see caterpillars in Costa Rica, but I did have a fabulous summer with friends, my son, and lots and lots of plants.
Parents of Graduates (POG) Fund
Established in 1997, the purpose of the Parents of Graduates Fund (POG) is to provide a significant and meaningful professional growth experience for one Shore faculty member per year. Parents of graduating students pay tribute to the honored Shore faculty by contributing to the POG Fund. Past recipients have reinvigorated their teaching with new ideas, innovations, and excellence. Previous award winners have investigated Incan ruins, traveled across the United States, explored literary sites across England, and wandered through the Black Caves of Spain.
Shore Country Day School’s mission is to provide an education that inspires a love of learning and encourages children to embrace academic challenge. We seek to build character, cultivate creativity, and value diversity as we help our children become healthy, compassionate citizens of the world.
The School admits qualified students of any race, color, national or ethnic origin, ancestry, sex, religion, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, disability, or any other status protected by applicable law, and extends to them all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the School. The School does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, ancestry, sex, religion, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, disability, or any other status protected by applicable law in the administration of its admissions, scholarships, and loans, and its educational, athletic, and other programs.