By By ERIN VER BERKMOES / Niles Daily Star
NILES - The dirt really is their own now. Despite the rain that kept falling, about 100 students, parents, teachers and community members came to Brandywine Elementary on Saturday morning to participate in the planting blitz. The blitz was part of the landscaping project at the school, where a student came up with the theme of making the dirt their own.
The planting blitz was the final step in the semester-long landscaping project at the school, which has been headed by the students, as well as fourth grade teacher Jim Ackles and volunteer Martha Shreve.
On Thursday, May 26 at 2 p.m. there will be a landscaping dedication and community thank you at Brandywine Elementary located at 2428 S. 13th St.
The students also were able to gain some gardening knowledge with the project as the parents and teachers taught them how to lay out the plants in the bed and space them according to how large the plants will get. They also learned how to properly dig a hole, and then fertilize and water the ground so the plant thrives.
Part of the project the students along with the help of teachers and parents will be maintaing the landscaping at the school in the coming years.