TEACHERS HOPE DRUG LESSON TAKES ROOT WITH STUDENTS

SPRING CHURCH -- Fifth-grade students at Apollo-Ridge Elementary
School had to wonder what they were doing planting daffodil and tulip
bulbs on a chilly October day.

"It's never too cold to plant something," said Lorraine Valenta, of
Apollo, a member of the Penn State Master Gardeners.

For 75 members of the school's Just Say No Club, that meant putting
on their winter coats and trying to keep their hands warm while they
dug in the dirt outside the entrance to their school and got a lesson
in fall planting.

"I think they'll grow," said fifth-grader Evan Heasley. "It's cold,
but there's sunlight, and it's probably going to rain. I'm waiting to
see what they will look like and what the colors are when they come
up in the spring.

"We're doing it to make the outside of the school look good."

The project was made possible by a $500 grant obtained by several of
their teachers through the Apollo-Ridge Education Foundation. The
funding was used to purchase the bulbs and some planting tools.

"The Just Say No Club is about drug and alcohol awareness. We talk
about healthy choices and things we can do other than drugs and
alcohol," said the teacher in charge of the project, Janie Fryer.
"This is a community service project for them."

Fryer said the planting helped kick off Red Ribbon Week. The hope is
that the flowers will bloom in March during Drug Awareness Month, she said.

The school enlisted the Penn State Master Gardeners associated with
the Penn State Cooperative Extension in Armstrong County to teach the lesson.

Master Gardener Annette Kinter, of Ford City, a former teacher,
showed the students how to dig the hole, determine the top and bottom
of the bulb so the roots will grow properly, and to gently pat the
soil around it and round off the top soil.

"If you press too hard, the little fellows won't grow," Kinter said.
"Keep it loose."

"Most of these kids have never had their fingers in the soil (in a
constructive way)," she said. "They've never planted anything."

The lesson didn't go unnoticed by fifth-grader Tyler Baustert.

"I softened the soil on top," Baustert told Kinter. "There were big
chunks of dirt. I thought the roots wouldn't be strong enough to push
through if I didn't."

"You're giving the bulbs a good chance," Kinter said.

Master Gardener Walt Kijowski, of Kittanning, said he enjoys teaching
gardening to kids.

"Planting and growing things. That's what it's all about," Kijowski said.