The York County Master Gardeners in cooperation with the Virginia Extension Services will implement the Junior Master Gardening Program at Coventry, Grafton Bethel and Mt. Vernon Elementary schools in York County, Virginia, beginning in the Fall of 2004. The program will involve approximately 90 students. This will be an afterschool program, sanctioned and approved by each of the Principals of the individual schools. Each school will have different master gardeners running each program using the JMG Guidlines and sharing resources.

This program incorporates horticultural and environmental science education with leadership and life skills development. Recent JMG Research Findings reported that children who participated in this program had increased interest in science, were more enthusiastic about learning, and community projects increased self-esteem.

Students at Coventry (the pilot program last Spring) completed their Golden Ray Certificate by completing 14 different teaching concepts such as making Nature Masks out of items found in nature (i.e., leaves, twigs, rocks, flowers, soil). Another fun project was the students Recycle Art which earned each student an award. The artwork ranged from flowers to cars. If the students had to vote on the thing they liked the best it would have been their individual compost bins. Parents were warned that their children would be bringing home an additional twenty mouths to feed. Fortunately, table scraps were all that was required and there has been no reports of worms needing "vet care". The Coventry "Kids" really gave the master gardners the enthusiasm to go forward and expand this program.

If you have questions please contact the York Extension Office at 890-4944 or email ycjmg@hotmail.com.