Last weekend the staff at Wellington School in Monticello held a retirement dinner honoring the school’s teacher and principal, Nancy Wright. As I turned into the driveway to the Southern Aroostook Agricultural Museum where the dinner was being held, I noticed the welcome sign read, “It’s all about you Nancy Wright.” This Conservation Corner continues that theme.
Personally, I got to know Nancy when we collaborated on beginning a vegetable garden in raised beds at the school back in 2005. I knew that she had worked for many years to make sure that Wellington students experienced a connection to local agriculture and give them a first-hand experience of growing food by working projects such as installing a temporary in-class greenhouse to start vegetable and flower seedlings in and, depending on the year, hatching out chicks or ducklings, into the curriculum. She had also partnered with the Houlton High School woodworking class and built a wooden greenhouse on school grounds. The vegetable gardens seemed a natural extension to all of this.
A year after the three raised beds were installed with community help, Nancy called me and said, “We really need to expand.” So we did. She also enlisted her farmer husband and son to plow up an acre field for pumpkin planting for the entire school. Each student had their own hill of pumpkin plants to take care of over the summer (that didn’t work out so well on the weeding end). If you visit Wellington today, you will see garden beds, including vegetables planted in large tractor tires, and a small fruit tree orchard.
The best part of all of these projects is that the children are involved in the planting, weeding and harvesting of the vegetables, and taking care of the orchard. They are encouraged to walk on the beams, pull a carrot and eat it while playing at recess and measure their friend’s heights against the growing fruit trees.
Since I began working at the Soil and Water Conservation District, I have known Nancy to be a teacher and administrator who I can call with an idea and who is immediately willing to do it. She is supportive, passionate, and innovative and her enthusiasm is contagious.
As was evidenced at the turnout for her retirement dinner Saturday night, there are many colleagues and friends in the community who value her work as an educator these many years. As she noted in her speech that night, she took the state’s curriculum and presented it her way. I am happy that I got to be a very small part in developing the curriculum to include real “garden to table” experiences for Wellington students.
After so many years of giving her all to the students and school community, it was nice to have one night where it really was all about Nancy.
Editor’s note: Angie Wotton loves her work as district manager for the SASWCD. She also raises pastured pork and vegetables with her husband on their small West Berry Farm in Hammond. She can be reached 532-9407 or via e-mail at angela.wotton@me.nacdnet.net.
