Environmental Stewardship

On Friday October 11th The YMCA Academy made the first of its two annual outings to Evergreen Downsview. With the weather in favour of our journey, the entire day was destined to be a lovely experience…and it was! With the sun shining bright, our students got straight to work on fulfilling our school’s green initiative. This year JR (our Evergreen Downsview Expert) had us plant various shrubs in the locally grown forest with a new paper mulching technique.

While half of the school prepared the paper mulch for the shrubs, the other half provided a constant supply of mulch. After nice picnic style lunch our students continued the day by planting the shrubs we had prepped the forest floor for. We definitely can’t wait to go back in May!

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As part of The YMCA Academy’s commitment to environmental stewardship, the entire school participated in the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup on Friday, September 27. This year we cleaned a section of the Don River shoreline between Pottery Road and Beechwood Drive.

What makes this particular cleanup special is that we joined over 50,000 other Canadians who participated in the same cleanup nationwide. Students had the opportunity to be “citizen scientists”. They were required to categorize and tally all items collected. The data they collected is added to a national research database that is used to assist with environmental assessments.

We had a great turnout and collected over 50 pounds of garbage that afternoon. Wildlife sightings included snakes, fish, birds and a multitude of grasshoppers. Many students commented that they were able to experience a part of Toronto that they didn’t know existed.

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Staff and students gathered after school to harvest from the Academy’s Pickle Guild. The Pickle Guild was a test crop to establish the plants that would be appropriate to grow in the Pickle Farm housed in the school’s solarium. Check out the unusual and delicious plants that were harvested and promptly pickled with our Experimental Sculpture; Pickle Farm Designer, Micah Donovan.

On Friday May 17^th, 2013 the YMCA Academy made its annual spring trek to Evergreen Downsview as part of our yearly environmental stewardship initiative.  It was a bright and sunny day and our staff and students were eager to get their hands on shovels to start the planting. Upon arrival we set our things aside and awaited our instructions from JR, the project manager of urban ecology at Evergreen Downsview, and our guide.   Little did we know the surprise he had in store for us.

To our surprise and amazement, JR informed us that we would be digging up and replanting trees from the nursery to their final resting places. But these were no ordinary trees. These were the very same trees the Academy had planted 3 years ago, and who were now big enough and strong enough to be transplanted to their final destinations. With shovels in hand the Academy replanted many treest, helping reforest Downsview Park for the third year in a row. We look forward to watching this forest grow, especially since the Academy has planted the vast majority of the trees that will live within it.

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