Norwin student to build butterfly garden

With the monarch butterfly losing its habitat, a Norwin High School student wants to create a butterfly garden at the high school for the insects as they migrate from Mexico.

“This could be a safe place for them,” junior Emily Jumba told Norwin School Board recently. She hopes to create the butterfly garden this spring.

“They are pollinators. Without them, plants would not grow,” Jumba said.

Jumba said she envisions a garden with milkweed and black-eyed Susans that would be 16-feet-by-16-feet in size, with a path down the middle to allow access to the flowers.

The garden will be in the courtyard where the life skills and autistic support garden is located, said Ann Grimes Essay, Norwin High School life skills support teacher.

“We will help to maintain the garden once it is complete,” said Grimes Essay, the wife of William Essay, a school board member.

P.J. Petrarco, director of facilities and property services, said he will be working with Jumba on the project.

Jumba said she is creating the butterfly garden for her Girl Scout Gold Award project. She will supply the top soil, fertilizers, lumber and flowers for the project.

Creating an environment for the monarch butterflies is important because the monarch butterfly population has plunged over the past 20 years, bringing the butterfly dangerously close to extinction, according to the Environmental Defense Fund. A big factor in the monarch’s demise is the loss of milkweed habitat across the nation, particularly in the Midwest.

The Gold Award is the most prestigious award and most difficult to earn for Girl Scouts, according to the Girl Scouts of America website. When a Scout earns the Gold Award, they can work on the issues most important to them, the Girl Scouts stated.