As fresh flowers start to bloom and days get longer, the CHS Gardening Club is committed to plants and the environment, and has a variety of upcoming spring activities planned.
“Gardening Club was started back in March of 2022,” club president senior Chloe McGeehan said. “I was in my sophomore year and we usually meet monthly on Wednesdays but it doesn’t always occur on a specific day.”
During the winter, the gardening club hosts indoor activities which involve arts and crafts. They have three types of meetings that they do like general presentation meetings, different gardening projects, and outdoor projects. At their holiday themed meeting in December, members created wreaths to give out to teachers and during their Valentine’s Day Meeting, they created pipe cleaner flowers and cards for their loved ones.
“Winter meetings are mostly a lot of crafts,” English teacher and sponsor Tatiana Kinsel said. “We usually prepare for Taste of Chantilly, and we think about what gardening-related things we can do. And then in Spring, it’s much more outdoors. “
Although they are not able to garden outside in the winter, the gardening club utilizes their meetings during this time to brainstorm projects and events for the spring season. These projects not only provide service hours to members but they also contribute to the club’s goal of positively helping the environment.
“Last year, we were able to do community service projects at a local park and help remove invasive species so we are trying to do something similar this year,” club secretary junior Rachel Diehl said. “We are also trying to get some guest speakers including a botanist, and have her talk to us and answer questions on a zoom call.”
The club aims to provide a safe space where students can explore their passions. Both McGeehan and Diehl discovered their interest in gardening when they were young, so the club provides a space for others to explore their passions and do the same.
“I discovered my passion for gardening when I had a garden with my mom when I was little,” Diehl said. “Then, in sixth grade, my dad signed me up for a subscription to get two succulents a month in the mail. I had like 30 succulents at one point. It was through that and I expanded more to just general house plants and this summer, I made a pollinator garden on my deck as well.”
In the future, the board members hope to promote the club to more underclassmen through posters and the Knightly News, as well as consistently posting on Instagram since the majority of members are seniors. They also wish to gain experience working in the garden, which is located near the baseball field, and completing more hands-on projects when the weather allows so.
“One of our goals is to make a more comprehensive and competent garden,” Kinsel said. “Right now, it is recovering from the winter so we are working on weeding it and figuring out what plants we want to keep and what we should tear up.”
With Earth Day approaching on April 22, Gardening Club looks forward to completing activities to commemorate it. Although they are still planning, they are aiming for a major event to celebrate Earth Day.
“We were thinking of doing a compost drive and that was the thing we’re planning with other schools in order to make it a large compost drive,” McGeehan said. “We are trying to figure out the logistics of that. Otherwise, we are definitely planning to have some kind of big meeting related to Earth Day.”
