Ephesus Elementary launches STEM garden project

(Ephesus, GA) — On Friday, August 24 the 4th and 5th grade students along with members of the community, built and filled raised beds for a new school STEM project at Ephesus Elementary School.

These members of the community included Mayor Denny Rogers and wife Karen, Ms. Paige Harrod, Ms. Phyllis Wiggins, Ms. Donna Meachum, Dinah Rowe Heard County Extension Coordinator, Mandy Carroll from NRCS, and Mr. Ray Gosdin.

The beds were made possible through a grant provided by Three Rivers RC&D.

Students at EES worked with community members to construct raise beds as part of an EES STEM initiative (Photo: Ephesus Elementary)

EES 4th and 5th grade Science teacher Ms. Liz Cosper is leading this initiative along with Dinah Rowe.

The plan is for all grades K-5 to have a section of the garden to care for throughout the year.

Students will be deciding what to plant and completing this part of the project in mid September.

Lessons aligned to Georgia state standards will be taught in the classrooms.

“We have many expert gardeners in our community and we have ask them to join in teaching and helping our students to learn more about agriculture and the science behind growing and caring for it,” says Ephesus Elementary Principal Melanie Brooks.

“The long-term goal for the outdoor space is to establish an outdoor classroom setting for teachers to instruct their students. The hope is for some of the items grown in the garden to be served to students in our cafeteria,” adds Principal Brooks.

“The project supports our STEM initiative within our school and is something that has the potential to bring our students and members of our community together.”

In Georgia, STEM education (science, technology, engineering and math) is an integrated curriculum that is driven by exploratory project-based learning and student-centered development of ideas and solutions.