Islip Middle Schoolers Build 'Dream' Native Rain Garden

ISLIP, NY— Islip Middle School science teacher AnnMarie Mills is an award-winning teacher who has been recognized for innovation in environmental education. Her latest project was to design and construct a large native garden at the middle school, and she acquired a grant to bring the idea to fruition.

“I spent the past year dreaming about completing this project with my students, and was fortunate to have the support of my administration and building principal,” she said in a news release from Islip School District.

“Submitting the proposal despite the pandemic will always be one of my most memorable professional achievements.”

Mills and her students designed, built and planted the 400-square-foot native rain garden at the school, working with Islip-based Seatuck Environmental Association.

Mills began learning about Long Island's native plants seven years ago while Greentree Foundation’s Teachers Ecology Workshop, an event led by local environmentalists, scientists and professors. She got the idea to create the garden for educational, as well as environmental, purposes.

Mills, who was named 2019 Suffolk Science Teachers Association of New York State Middle Level Teacher of the Year, worked over Zoom with the school principal as well as Seatuck Education Director Peter Walsh and landscape designer Sue Avery to design the project.

The middle schoolers then spent months removing soil, grass and weeds from the front lawn, mulching, doing soil and water tests and observing the soil.

“Working with Seatuck to create this garden will help us to protect the future by returning to the past,” Mills said. “Native plants help restore ecosystems by fostering biodiversity, encourage carbon sequestration and increase water quality. The students at Islip learned about the harmful effects of nitrogen pollution, climate change and the insect apocalypse, and our native garden will serve as a means of remediation and hope."

"The plants were selected with the idea that ‘if you build it, they will come,’ in hopes that many bird, butterfly and insect species will take refuge on our school grounds. It will be enjoyed by the students of Islip of all ages as well as the community for many years to come.”