Student's garden design takes home the prize
BY JESSICA SMITH
Staff Writer

CHRIS KELLY staff Steve Wiatroski of Pioneer Landscaping talks to students at the Memorial Elementary School in Old Bridge Monday about designing and planting a garden.

OLD BRIDGE - The Memorial School promotes growth - in more ways than one.

A garden design contest for fourth- and fifth-graders challenged the students to apply several disciplines to create the best layout of plants and flowers for the area around the school's front flagpole.

"It was really an authentic earth science experience for them," principal Martha Simon said.

Samantha Papa, a fourth-grader, applied her past experience of gardening with her dad to take home the prize.

"It was a lot of fun," 10-year-old Samantha said.

The three-week design period began with an assembly during which Steve Wiatroski, the owner of Pioneer Landscaping, gave students the basics to work with, including a list of viable plants to use in their design plans, as well as a blank grid of the garden area to fill in with their chosen plants.

CHRIS KELLY staff Samantha Schustler, 9, spreads some mulch around a new garden that she designed outside the Memorial Elementary School in Old Bridge Monday.

Teachers at the school linked the contest with the science and math programs, as the 15 entrants had to research plants and even create a mock budget for their proposed gardens. Samantha said there was a lot of work involved in the process.

Wiatroski's daughter Madison, a student at the school, created digital pictures of the three finalists' designs to provide a real image of how the final garden would appear. The Student Council made the final decision on the winning design.

According to Samantha, her color choices were what made her design stand out from the rest. Simon said the way Samantha spaced the plants of varied heights also contributed to her exceptional design.

"We really wanted to make sure the flag was the central focus of that garden area, and it is," Simon said.

Being the Memorial School, Simon said, it was important to honor the veterans in the area by highlighting the flag.

The groundbreaking for the garden was Monday, and all 15 participants in the contest helped to make Samantha's design a reality, with the help of Wiatroski.

Team Clean, the school's environmental club, helped to secure recycled mulch for the garden through a grant from the Middlesex County Division of Solid Waste Management.

In another gardening project this year at the school, second-graders planted flowers that attract butterflies, later releasing butterflies they had in their classroom to enjoy the garden.

Samantha won a $100 gift card to Barnes and Noble bookstore, compliments of Pioneer Landscaping, and she plans to share the wealth. Buying books for her sisters, Nicole, 6, and Heather, 8, and her friends, was the first thing Samantha said she would like to do with her prize.

reality, with the help of Wiatroski.

Team Clean, the school's environmental club, helped to secure recycled mulch for the garden through a grant from the Middlesex County Division of Solid Waste Management.

In another gardening project this year at the school, second-graders planted flowers that attract butterflies, later releasing butterflies they had in their classroom to enjoy the garden.

Samantha won a $100 gift card to Barnes and Noble bookstore, compliments of Pioneer Landscaping, and she plans to share the wealth. Buying books for her sisters, Nicole, 6, and Heather, 8, and her friends, was the first thing Samantha said she would like to do with her prize.