Gardens and chickens and crafts, oh my! PB Middle celebrates Earth Day

pbms seventh grader and garden club member mars w. releases earthworms into one of the school garden vegetable beds during the recent earth day celebration.

Pacific Beach Middle School celebrated Earth Day with students and community members on April 21 during a festive lunchtime event held in the revitalized campus garden. The celebration was hosted by the PBMS Garden Club, a student club dedicated to planting and maintaining the school’s garden, and featured the introduction of the school’s newly hatched baby chicks, the release of ladybugs and worms, and fun craft activities.

PBMS welcomed current Board of Education Trustee Cody Petterson, former Board of Education Trustee Dr. Michael McQuary, other members of the Pacific Beach community, and volunteers from UPS who helped run the Earth Day activities for the roughly 100 students who participated. These activities included creating pots of succulent plants and building pine cone bird feeders, using peanut butter and birdseed. UPS also provided about 500 ladybugs that, along with earthworms, were released in the garden. Ladybugs prey on harmful insects and earthworms help improve soil fertility.

three of pb middle school's newly hatched chickens. — Three of PB Middle School’s newly hatched chickens.

Another highlight of the event was the official debut of the school’s chicks, which had hatched during the week prior to Earth Day. PBMS library technician and Garden Club advisor Sally Kaufman held a campuswide contest where students and staff could guess which of 12 incubating eggs would hatch first. PBMS Principal Kimberly Meng and eight students who voted for “Eggiana Grande” were the lucky winners. Once fully grown, the chicks will live in the hut adjacent to the school garden.

The PBMS Earth Day celebration had been an annual school event before COVID and construction interrupted the tradition.

“It’s so nice to bring this activity back to campus,” said Kaufman, who organized the event. “It’s so fun to see the students so engaged with nature, whether it’s with the plants or the chicks. The students are amazed by how quickly the chicks and the plants are growing, but we adults are just as amazed by how quickly the students are growing.”

“My favorite part [of the festivities] was the amount of enthusiasm everyone had,” said seventh-grade Garden Club member Mars W. “Whether they were releasing the ladybugs and worms or chilling with friends and creating succulents, it was pretty neat that so many people came and checked out what we were doing.”