Remi Poliquin
Counsel
Sowing the Seeds of Tomorrow at the Inaugural Green Fair
by Dan Mullins
Five- and six-year-old kindergarten students might seem an unlikely crew for heavy agricultural lifting. Yet, as they stood before an audience while their rigorous work maintaining school garden beds was described, their undeniable pride—and pretty darn cute presence—set the tone for the evening. These young environmentalists were the heart of a vibrant community gathering celebrating grassroots sustainability across the network.
When Assistant Director of Educational Services Nathia Messina asked if anyone was interested in reviving the Green Project Initiative, educational consultants Amelia Crerar and Miranda Greco jumped at the opportunity. They reached out across the Lester B. Pearson School Board to uncover the quiet, ongoing environmental work happening in classrooms and daycares.
Their findings culminated on Monday, April 20th, when the Board hosted its inaugural Green Fair from 5 to 7 p.m. in the boardroom. The evening began with a thoughtful land acknowledgement by Messina, who welcomed attendees and recognized the Council of Commissioners’ green subcommittee members present, including Marylin Boyer, Danny Olivenstein, Malik Shaheed, Eric Olsthoorn, and teacher representative Margaret Prince.
Before the schools took the stage, Christopher Cloutier, an entomologist and educator from Vanier College, delivered a passionate keynote address. Introduced through a connection by pedagogical consultant Nancy Battet, Cloutier emphasized the urgent need to plant the “seeds” of environmental conservation in the minds of the next generation.
The true stars of the evening, however, were the remarkably articulate student presenters and the projects they represented. Grade 2 students Leonardo, Maria, and Luca from Sherbrooke Academy Jr. detailed the fast-paced nature of their 25-minute lunchtime gardening club, where they save tomato seeds and run an after-school harvest market selling fresh kale, Swiss chard, and basil. At St. Anthony, the student-led Green Team, represented by Grade 4 and 5 students Mia, Charlize, Victoria, Emma, Yasmin, and Ella, proved their dedication to waste management. They collect compost twice a week, carefully sorting out greasy pizza boxes, and recently organized a fall clothing drive that collected 741 kilograms of donations.
The heavy lifting mentioned earlier belongs to St. John Fisher Jr., where kindergarten teacher Nadine Emond has been gardening with her young charges for 15 years. Joined by her students Beatrice, George, Anna, and Leah, Emond shared how the class harvests crab apples from a neighbor’s tree to make and sell jelly, raising funds to replenish their three moving garden beds. Rounding out the presentations, Grade 6 students Neil, Isaac, Brooklyn, and Sophie from Westpark shared the evolution of a garden project that began in 2015. They spoke of the messy reality of gardening in poor weather and their ongoing food preservation efforts, packaging their dried and frozen harvests for an annual sale that benefits the West Island Women’s Shelter and the Montreal Children’s Hospital.
Looking ahead, these green initiatives show no signs of slowing down. Sherbrooke Academy Jr. has partnered with a local non-profit to hire a summer employee to maintain their beds, and recently planted avocado pits as a winter activity, hoping that “maybe in 15 years we will harvest some avocado”. St. Anthony’s Green Team is preparing for an Earth Day assembly to promote tree planting and active transport. St. John Fisher Jr. is eagerly awaiting a new delivery of bees in May to promote biodiversity, complete with a queen bee naming contest.
As Crerar and Greco expressed their hope that this would be the “first Green Fair of many to come,” the dedication of these students and educators resonated throughout the room. Their collective efforts prove that a deep respect for the natural world is already firmly rooted within the LBPSB community.
