Our year in review

Dear Friends of Project Lab St. Louis,

On Tuesday, June 6, I had the incredible experience of sitting down with former Project Lab student Javon Calmese, who has just completed his first year of college. I’m delighted and proud to share that Javon will be interning for Project Lab St. Louis this summer.

Although we’d stayed in touch through email, I hadn’t see Javon for five years, not since he graduated 8th grade from Normandy and moved on to attend high school in a different district.

Javon and I were meeting up with Valaree Logan at the garden on the Restoration & Wellness campus. Although we got right down to business, talking about the summer, and what we’ve got to do before students return in August, I was inwardly blown away by what was happening. Here we were, each of us five years older, but still connected by what Project Lab St. Louis was, and how it all felt, back in the Normandy 7th & 8th Grade Center. Definitely check out Javon’s reflections in the following pages.

Looking back over the last year, I’m astonished at our accomplishments: In collaboration with the district, with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, and with Custom Foodscaping, LLC, we established the first garden of the Permaculture Project of Metropolitan St. Louis in the FergusonFlorissant School District. We were so grateful to St. Louis Public Radio for covering our planting day in April!

Champion of this year’s work is Valaree Logan, who joined our team in August as Lead Gardener and School Liaison. Val set up a Project Lab classroom, collaborated with teachers, and establshed positive, nurturing relationships with students.

Months before the first seeds and plants were in the ground, Val wove together her expertise in gardening and her background in school psychology to create meaningful experiences for each and every student.

Eventually, our students will collect and share data on local bumble continue to steward our resources with care and intention. It was possible this year to shift a portion of our cash position to a secure investment, which will increase the value of your contributions to date. Please see our financial page for details.

Looking ahead, we’re excited to produce a second edition of Living Questions, a project that’s been on temporary hold.

You provide financial support that transforms the experience of school at the sensory level.

We’ll also be adding even more reading passages to our accessible, open-source collection of contentspecific information texts. To date, we have nearly 240 passages in six different content areas -- World History, U. S. History, Gardening, Biology, Mind/ Body Well-Being, and Earth Science.

bees with scientists at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. In the coming weeks, we’ll be refining our processes and forms for documenting and disseminating what we learn about these pollinators in north St. Louis County. We’re so proud to be contributing to this growing body of national research. I invite you to read Val’s report.

I’d also like to share that we

Thanks to you, our work can continue. Thanks to you, the curriculum we develop and implement remains relevant, rigorous, and engaging. Thanks to you, I remain grateful for the past, joyful in the present, and hopeful about the future.

Warmly, Inda