April 19, NC’s Greenhouse Gang received high recognition from the Garden Club of Georgia, one of the grandest gardening organizations in the United States. As a club, Greenhouse Gang accepted the first place award for Outstanding High School Garden and Gardeners in the entire state of Georgia, an accomplishment that truly augments the recent string of academic and extracurricular accomplishments around NC. From notable guest speakers to state-wide recognition, this honor truly augments the string of successes achieved by NC’s resident green thumbs.
The story of the Garden Club of Georgia starts with America’s first-ever gardening club, The Ladies Garden Club, back in the late nineteenth century. Around thirty years after its inception, the group expanded to become the Peach State’s hottest new gardening club; since then, the female-led organization has continued to support and cultivate horticulture communities in the state and seeks to uplift any individual interested in starting their own gardens. Through flower bulb fundraisers or their seasonal newsletters, the Garden Club of Georgia encourages membership and participation from all who pursue their site and do so in a manner equally natural to the plants to which they grow.
The Garden Club of Georgia hosts several competitions throughout the year, such as their annual poetry, essay and poster contests. To potentially receive an honor from the organization, sponsors of gardening clubs in the Peach State submit photos and progress on behalf of their groups to the State Garden Committee. After one of the Greenhouse gang co-sponsors, MOID Paraprofessional Lorelle LoCurto, sent in photos of the club’s garden for State submission, NC graciously joined the fold of schools in consideration to win the award and came out victorious.
As a part of the District 1 Youth Garden Clubs, Greenhouse Gang serves to help foster a love of gardening both in their local NC community and the surrounding counties where the Laurel District resides. Out of the seven other organizations in their caption, NC emerged victorious, thoroughly demonstrating their staggering success as a gardening club in the Metro Atlanta area. Upon receiving the news of their well-deserved win, all Greenhouse members celebrated in person and on social media, filling comment sections and classrooms with cheers of celebration.
“When I first saw the award, I was in shock because, for a long time, our club hadn’t been recognized for the multitude of things that we do throughout the year. We all work so hard working towards the success of the club whether attending one meeting or all of them or helping to plant between classes we’ve invested time, effort, and dedication to our greenhouse and garden,” senior and Greenhouse Gang President Eladia Scott said.
With their accomplishment in mind, the club excitedly sets off to their last piece of business before the school year ends: the annual end-of-year plant sale. As this crucial time approaches for the Greenhouse Gang, the budding group of plant enthusiasts continues to expand on their previous successes of the past school year. Alongside attaining honors from the Garden Club of Georgia, Greenhouse has also planted a series of flowers around NC, hosted the Director of Urban Gardening for Georgia and had several members individually place at the North Georgia State Fair. Heading towards next school year, the club hopes to continue to innovate and further expand on botanical projects.
“For next year, GHG is hoping to expand our pilot Hydroponics program and be able to grow and donate fresh salad greens in the Fall. We are working to build community partnerships with North Star Senior Living Center, Emerson Farms Nursery and Acworth Community Gardens,” club co-sponsor and Zoology teacher Sue Aughey said.
