How's It Growing? Week 2

GARDEN SUCCESS

The Harbison family shared photos of their garden’s bounty with us after our call for photos in last week’s Volt. They are successfully growing corn and eggplant with more to come from their garden.

Photo: Shane DeGannes

PLANT OF THE WEEK: Amaranth

Plenty of Amaranth seeds are available at the Seed Bank on the car deck of VIMSIA. This very easy to grow plant can be eaten raw and they’re delicious sauteed too. Enjoy planting these seeds in pots and/or your outdoor garden.

Read more here about tips for growing Amaranth.

Happy Earth Day #VIMSIAGreen

VIMSIA celebrated Earth Day this year by inviting students to take action around their home or to raise awareness for an environmental cause they care about.

Caroline, a senior in the PGIA says, “Living on a beautiful island with pristine beaches really helps me to remember how wonderful our earth is. Although my Earth day awareness photo is focused on something or someone smaller. BEES!! Although these little guys may seem minuscule they immensely aid crops with reproduction which assists us in our agricultural system. Also, they pollinate our flowers that add more beauty to our world. However, many bee species today are endangered and face extinction. Go bees!”

Kira focused her Earth Day thoughts towards the sea, “On this Earth Day, I hope everyone remembers how important our beautiful Earth is and makes conscious decisions, remembering that every choice we make has an impact on the planet.”

Her painting represents the “damages ocean acidification has on our marine animals.” Kira reminds us that, “Ocean acidification is damaging to our oceans and the species that live in it, but luckily we can help to prevent ocean acidification by cutting our carbon pollution. Go to this website to find out how you can help prevent ocean acidification.”

Students in the 8th grade share their drawings and reflections on Earth Day.

Happy Earth Day - VIMSIA Recycles!

Recycling ambassadors Lexi and Sofie from Ms. Satter's class show off the recycling that has been collected in Elementary classrooms over the last couple of weeks. All elementary classrooms are now recycling plastics that are dropped off at Plaza Extra on Saturdays! 

The Soccer Field is Looking Very "Bright"

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Out of chaos comes opportunity.

The Story of the Lights:

VIMSIA's soccer field is now lit with LED lights. Thus the electricity consumption is nominal. The poles supporting the lights are discarded utility poles from the hurricanes...recycled poles. 

And that’s not all this very “GREEN” field has to boast about:

• The retaining wall and seats on the south side of the field are built from discarded poles from the hurricanes...recycled materials;

• The poles and lights were installed by Haugland Energy... donated labor;

• The field is watered with water captured in our road run-off collection system. The system not only waters the field but reduces the road run-off into the ocean from surrounding roads...an environmental system helping to preserve ocean quality;

• The pump system and lighting are powered by our solar system and battery storage system, (off grid system)...no energy payments to WAPA.

Pit fall: the lawn mower used to mow the field is gas powered.

But, maybe we can fix that, too. CAS hours anyone?