Approximately 50 fourth and fifth graders from the gifted student program from the Carter County School system participated in an “Enrichment Day” on May 26th.  This was sponsored and held at the Olive Hill Historical Society gymnasium. 

The theme for the day was “Green.”  The students divided into smaller groups to experience several activities.  They learned about organic gardening from our modern Mr. Green Jeans, master gardener John Bailey of Grayson, KY.  He explained many of the benefits of going organic and buying locally.  Students received salsa seed packs generously donated by Whole Foods of Lexington, Ky.  Included in the packet were cilantro, tomatoes and peppers.  Mr. Bailey gave each student several different varieties of tomato plants.  The students taking part should enjoy a fresh variety of herbs, fruits, and vegetables grown by their own hands this summer.  John is located on US 60 West between Olive Hill and Grayson for those of you who wish to visit his farm.

Janice Prezioso let the children’s imagination soar as they created scrapbooks from recycled materials.  Several of them kept the green theme going in the subject matter of their scrapbooks.  Janice has practiced green in her own life to the extent that she pursued it as a business career:   http://www.livetotalwellness.com/prez  Janice is also very active in the Carter County Homemakers.

Amy Smith talked with the students and let them speak out about their own green practices.  They were encouraged to help our planet in various ways and were given hand-outs, of course on recycled paper, and reusable shopping bags, also made out of recycled materials, all generously provided by Whole Foods.  The children were encouraged to go to Whole Foods’ website to take the green quizzes.  http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/lexingtongreen/

After lunch, the children enjoyed a Wallace and Gromit movie, “The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.”

The day was reminiscent of one of Oprah’s famous give-away shows thanks to Whole Foods and our many volunteers and donators to this project which also included in addition to our green instructors above - Linda Lowe, Debbie Harman, and the city of Olive Hill for letting us use their movie equipment.  Going green was made much easier for our youth. 

The Olive Hill Historical Society would love to hear back from the students regarding their future green endeavors, especially in the area of gardening and recycling.  We invite those who participated to write something for our blog and share pictures of their projects.

See our photo gallery from more photos.  www.olivehillhistoricalsociety.org