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Dobbins becomes a WILD School
Photo
Neighbors | Sarah Foor .Dobbins celebrated their recognition as a WILD School site with participants in the project and a collection of Dobbins students who have helped tend to the Dobbins Nature Trail. The students are, from left, Michael Kushner (front), Chase Wern, Mia Gajdos (middle), Alexa Black, Carley Francis, Gianna Carbon, and officials Shelly Covert (back) and Sean McGuire of the Mahoning Soil and Water Conservation District, Jamey Graham of the Ohio Division of Wildlife, and Dobbins principal Cheryl Borovitcky.
By SARAH FOOR
Only two years ago, a tract of land along the Dobbins Elementary school grounds went completely unused.
Through the hard work of Dobbins school officials, families, and assistance from the Mahoning County Soil and Water Conservation District, the Dobbins Nature Trail offers students a butterfly and hummingbird garden, animal tracks observation, and raised gardening.
Although the garden only finished construction in June, on Sept. 23, Dobbins has earned the high honor of being inducted as a WILD School Site.
With the recognition, Dobbins has become the 116th site dedicated by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife in the state and only the sixth school to be dedicated in Mahoning County.
Dobbins principal Cheryl Borovitcky celebrated the induction during a school assembly on Sept. 23, where she showed photos of the garden’s progress, completion, and continuing growth.
“Yesterday, a few fourth-graders visited my office wearing gloves covered in dirt, looking at the potatoes they grew in their garden with amazement. The excitement I see in each grade level shows the many ways in which our garden has enriched the Dobbins educational experience,” Borovitcky said.
Borovitcky honored the participation of Dobbins students, families, and employees tending the garden over the summer, as well as the guidance from Jamey Graham, of the Ohio Division of Wildlife, and Sean McGuire, Shelly Covert, and Kathi Vrable-Bryan, all of the Mahoning County Soil and Water Conservation District.
Although the school earned a high honor, it does not mean that work on the garden is finished.
“It’s a living ecosystem here at Dobbins – our work will never be done. We’ll always be expanding, adding different vegetation, and tending to our garden so that it can continue to mature,” Borovitcky told her students.