Mr. Don Gosselin-first person account
Endicott Community Greenhouse Volunteer
and Board member

My association with the school program started in the year 2000. I had gone to the greenhouse to look at bench space and met John Anderson there. He showed me around, then asked if i was retired, which I was. I told him I volunteered at the Riverdale School tutoring ESL students. He told me about a program in the Dedham grammar schools working with first and third grade students teaching them about basic plant biology and growing plants. He invited me to see the program which I did and was very interested. I enjoyed working with children and plants so I joined Len Gustafson at the Greenlodge school. I did not know initially that John’s wife was terminally ill and that he could not continue.

With John’s assistance I assumed doing the program at the Greenlodge school. We taught the students in the classroom at that time and started with planting seeds and teaching children about germination. We used both flower and vegetable seeds, and as they matured we taught about transplanting. Each child would participate hands on alternately every other week as this allowed us the ability to work with every child in the class. During this period I discovered that the children had the capacity to learn the proper terminology for all the biology terms we were working with, and switched to using the proper biology terms. I had never been a formal teacher so my methods developed during this time. Towards the end of the nine or ten week program we learned propagation of various plants. At the end of the program each child received two of the plants we had grown. The program went in two sessions one in the fall and one in the spring

 There was also a third grade program which was quite similar, with the addition of experiments. We chose an experiment in erosion and conservation which was appropriate, as we spent time with understanding the purpose of the watershed which is all around us in Dedham, but was unknown to our students, and our water source from wells, which is an important part of the program.

I tried to make all of our presentations exciting and to provoke curiosity and interest. I had the opportunity to learn as much as I taught. When doing the experiment on erosion, which used three boxes with drain holes in them, one having dense vegetation, one with sparse vegetation and one with just soil and stones. We introduced the same volume of water forcefully to each of the boxes and then measured the results and quantity and quality of the water. I was stunned when one of the students asked what would happen if we passed the muddy water into the dense vegetation box. I replied that I did not know, but I did know that it was the best question I could have imagined. We did that and the result was a cleansing of the very muddy water. I used this part from then on and attributed it to one of our students.

In time there was a period when the program at the Oakdale school had no personnel to continue, so I added that to our program. Later on I changed to the Oakdale school and the Riverdale as others had assumed the program there.

For several years I did not know there was also a lady by the name of Ellen Donovan who did a program at the Avery school. Ellen had been a formal teacher and had a program that was a bit different, which I was not aware of. There were some differences, but we accomplished similar results.

During my time I became aware of a program at Oakdale school for special needs students. I talked with their teacher and we did two programs with these students, one before Christmas and one for Mother’s Day where we helped them produce plants to bring home in a one day program. We also brought this to a group at the Riverdale school.

In the twenty-two years that I was involved with this program I was fortunate to work with many dedicated teachers, principals, and staff at all the schools. In all the years and all the classes I was amazed that I never encountered one student that didn’t like the program.

The basic grow lab was from a plan that the founders had, and was built by students at Dedham High school. There were two grow labs in each of the grammar schools, which were equipped with heaters to warm the soil and fluorescent lights. Later on we upgraded the grow labs with LED lighting and rigid plastic covering instead of the plastic sheeting that was originally used.

Originally from my understanding the program was instituted for special needs students who would come to the greenhouse to learn about growing plants. A change came about when special need students were mainstreamed in their classes. This prompted the program to be established in the schools with the entire class participating.

Being part of this program was one of the best experiences I have had. I enjoyed every session as much as the children. Their enthusiasm and interest was infectious.

My thanks to John Anderson for introducing me to the program and for the assistance of the many men and women who I was privileged to work with in the program.