Sowing Seeds of Excellence: Shipley's Horticulture Program
Sarah Sterling
Horticulture has deeply enriched Shipley’s history. Many of the School’s longest-standing traditions and events are steeped in horticulture, from the concept of ‘Acorns to Oaks,’ to Secret Gardens, and Sprouts’ decades-long involvement in the Philadelphia Flower Show. Even the farm fields on which athletic events are played originated as agricultural land used by the School. Horticulture is embedded in the foundation of Shipley. If tended to, it can provide immediate, continuous, and long-term benefits to the community, as well as tangible evidence of the pursuit of our strategic goals.
As society becomes increasingly urbanized and digitized, knowledge of and exposure to the natural world continues to diminish. The impact of this type of deficit has been thoroughly researched for years, and we now know that access to nature is of paramount importance in establishing and maintaining human well-being. This is especially true when it comes to the social and emotional health of children and adolescents.
Horticulture programming and Sprouts pervasively address the Vision 20/26 goal of Educational Excellence, specifically the strategy to “Re-envision ideas of where we learn, when we learn, and whom we learn from.” And as we broaden the use of horticulture in our School, we not only make a positive impact at Shipley, but on the world as well.
Reaping the Benefits of Horticulture in Education
Horticulture is one way that schools have reconnected young people with the natural world and positively impacted students’ well-being. Studies have shown that:
Students who have access to horticulture programs report feeling “’calm,’ ‘safe,’ ‘happy,’ and ‘relaxed’ in a school garden.” (Habib & Doherty, 2007)
Children who work in gardens are more likely to accept people different from themselves. (Dyment & Bell, 2006)
Students who participated in horticulture-based programs had increased self-understanding, interpersonal skills, and cooperative skills when compared to students who lacked such programming. (Robinson & Zajicek, 2005)
Engineering students worked with faculty to design and build raised garden beds for the Upper and Lower Campuses, and the award-winning Little Seed Library.
Produce from Shipley’s gardens was donated to the Ardmore Food Pantry and used to prepare summer lunches for colleagues on campus.
In the Lower School, students helped to plant and maintain the newly-installed garden beds.
Kindergartners planted fairy gardens in science class for Earth Day.
History and horticulture united for members of the Class of 2021 who spent three weeks at the Lower Merion Baptist Church for their Senior Service Projects. As part of their work, they reconstructed damaged gravesites, designed and installed a new border garden, planted six Victorian cradle graves, and participated in a heritage flag ceremony.
History and horticulture united for members of the Class of 2021 who spent three weeks at the Lower Merion Baptist Church for their Senior Service Projects. As part of their work, they reconstructed damaged gravesites, designed and installed a new border garden, planted six Victorian cradle graves, and participated in a heritage flag ceremony.
The Shipley Sprouts, Shipley's Upper School horticulture club, won two second-place awards at the 2022 Philadelphia Flower Show for their Tablescape exhibit. In addition, students in the Upper School STEAM Department won third and second-place awards for their Garden Gate exhibit.
The Shipley School is proud to announce that Don Draper has been appointed as Director of Tennis. In his capacity as Director of Tennis, Don will oversee the growth, continuity, and strategic vision for tennis at Shipley.
Originally published in the May 2022 issue of the Upper School student newspaper, The Beacon, this article shares insights from All School President Griffin Chulik ’22 about his student government experience and some final thoughts as he departs from the Shipley community and prepares to head off to college in the fall.
Helping students identify their strengths and weaknesses is an essential goal for any educator guiding them on the path to success. This is especially important in sixth grade, as students make the transition from elementary to middle school. One cornerstone of the sixth grade SEED curriculum is having students explore their own learning styles and apply this knowledge to forming relationships.
On Thursday, May 26 the Upper School held its annual Closing Awards Ceremony. During this ceremony, Shipley recognized the outgoing and incoming student leadership officers and presented students with academic, athletic, and leadership awards.
Shipley's Middle School Latin students took the 2022 National Latin Examination with over 100,000 students from around the world. An impressive 26 students earned Latin Award prizes and recognition for excellence. Middle School Latin students also competed in The Philadelphia Classical Society's 83rd Annual Latin Week Competition - Traditional Artistry & Literary Projects on Classical themes. A total of 55 Middle School students won Latin Awards and recognition for excellence.
The Shipley School is proud to announce the appointment of Harry Green as the School’s new Director of Track and Field. This new position will oversee all running programs. Coach Green will be Head Coach of the Varsity Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field teams and the Cross Country team.
What do Coke and Pepsi have to do with statistics? The seniors in Matt Frankel’s interdisciplinary statistics class can tell you! After studying the statistical problem-solving process all year, students ran a large study with 300 subjects to see if they could differentiate between Coke and Pepsi with a greater accuracy than random guessing would provide.
Shipley Middle School science teacher Ace Schwarz has been selected to participate in its 2022 National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Landmarks of American History Workshop, The Space Age on the Space Coast. "I am hoping to bring back what I learn so we can really develop the space exploration aspect of our curriculum," commented Mx. Schwarz.
Shipley’s Middle School Science Olympiad team earned an overall ninth-place finish at the Pennsylvania Science Olympiad State Tournament held at Penn State Altoona on April 30.
The Shipley School is proud to announce that after an extensive search, Eva Winiarski has been named Head Varsity Girls' Lacrosse Coach. She brings a wealth of teaching, playing, and coaching experience to Shipley, most recently as the Assistant Lacrosse Coach and Defensive Coordinator at The McDonough School in Maryland. In the classroom, Eva will join Shipley’s exceptional English Department as an Upper School teacher.
On April 24, 2022, three groups of Shipley’s Upper School students presented research at a roundtable presentation of the Student Participatory Action Research Collaboration (SPARC). “Our students were passionate, thorough, confident, and genuinely enthusiastic about their research topics,” said student advisor and Shipley’s Interim Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Sheri Rider Jobe.
Shipley sixth-grader Jordyn Colbert '28 won first place in the 17th Annual Charlotte Miller Simon Poetry Contest, presented by the Ardmore Free Library.
Shipley’s Middle School and Upper School Science Olympiad teams participated in the Southeast Pennsylvania Science Olympiad Tournament. Combined, the teams earned 18 medals and qualified for the State tournament.
The Shipley School’s DEI Strategic Plan goal 3 is to ensure an equitable experience for all members of the community. One initiative of that goal is to create and support affinity spaces for students, colleagues, families, and alumni. Affinity spaces speak to the efforts of not just ensuring equitable experiences, but also creating experiences that foster belonging in our community. Learn more about our efforts to create these spaces.
The Shipley School is a private, coeducational day school for pre-kindergarten through 12th grade students, located in Bryn Mawr, PA. Through our commitment to educational excellence, we develop within each student a love of learning and a desire for compassionate participation in the world.