THUNDER BAY — St. Pius X Elementary School officially opened its new medicinal garden.
On Wednesday, there was a ribbon cutting by students to showcase their hard work in building the garden boxes, laying out the soil and planting the seeds for the needed plants and herbs in the garden.
Students from the Catholic elementary school, and Grade 8 students from E.Q Jennings, worked together to envision how the gardens would look and come together.
Bringing an understanding of small medicines and Indigenous plants to a group of young students was part of the goal of the project, said Laura Sutton who's a Grade 1 teacher at St. Pius X.
"We have a growing population of Indigenous students at our school, and it's just a nice opportunity for them to have a chance to share what they know already, and teach other children about a different culture," Sutton said.
When asked if the students had taken anything away from the activity, Sutton noted that some of the younger students talked about the special uses of some of the plants while in the schoolyard with their friends.
Sutton says the gardens will continue as a project next year.
"Next year, the goal is to harvest some of the items that have grown and use them in Indigenous traditional ways," she said.
She noted that the Catholic school board is pushing for students for deep learning.
"We really focused communication, the creativity, the critical thinking with the students and teaching them within the school, and then they can carry that through life with them," she said.
