(West Palm Beach, FL – May 23, 2024) Friends of the Mounts Botanical Garden is launching a new fun and informative program this August for 3^rd grade students in the Palm Beach County School District:

Let’s All Go to the Garden!

A Fun & Educational Field Trip Experience

“Mounts Botanical Garden is announcing an exciting new K-12 educational program now that it has been selected by the School District of Palm Beach County as an official field trip location for all 3^rd grade students,” says Mounts Interim Co-Director Misty Stoller. “Let’s All Go to the Garden!, a fun and educational field trip experience, will serve approximately 15,000 students, 200+ teachers, and 1,500+ chaperones during the 2024-2025 school year.”

During these field trips, various Discovery Stations around the Garden will provide “Aha!” and “I didn’t know that!” moments for the touring students, such as:

·     How Do Seeds Travel? Where students will see and touch examples of different types of seeds and learn how they are dispersed.

·     What Do Plants Look Like Up Close? Where the young participants will use kid- and outdoor-friendly microscopes to see plant structures up close, such as leaves, roots, flowers, soil, etc.

·     What Do We Eat? Where students will be shown different parts of plants to discover what is edible, such as celery (stalk), radish or carrot (root), spinach or kale (leaves), broccoli or artichoke (flower), corn (fruit) and peas (seeds).

·     Can You Match it? Where the curious children will play a quick match game putting photos into different agricultural categories.

Additional Discovery Station ideas include renewable resources such as solar, wind, and wave power; identifying different types of rocks and learning how they were formed; the Everglades, aquifers, and

limestone; growing food in space; and more.

Community Support is Critical

“Unfortunately, due to financial constraints, no funding for this program is being provided by the school district for this field trip initiative—so financial support from the community is critical,” pleads Mounts Development Officer Tish Sheesley. “We need to raise $150,000 to offer this memorable experience for local third graders and provide safe and approved transportation to and from Mounts Botanical Garden. In addition to providing safe and approved transportation, while here, students will have the opportunity to be outdoors in a living museum, be captivated by how many different types of plants we have and will work together to figure out some of the educational riddles that we have in store for them.”

“For more information or to pledge financial support for Let’s All Go to the Garden!, please contact me directly at 561.233.1763 or [email protected],” she adds. “Let’s work together as a community to ensure that these 15,000 kiddos have the opportunity to come to the Garden.”

For details, visit www.mounts.org/lets-all-go-to-the-garden/.

About Mounts Botanical Garden of Palm Beach County:

With a mission to inspire and educate through nature, Mounts Botanical Garden is Palm Beach County’s oldest and largest botanical garden. Visitors to this 20-acre tropical oasis will see an acclaimed collection of 25 unique garden areas containing more than 7,000 species of tropical and sub-tropical plants, including Florida natives, exotic and tropical fruit trees, herbs, palms, roses, cactus, bromeliads, and much more. Mounts Botanical is located at 531 North Military Trail in West Palm Beach. For more information, please visit www.mounts.org. 

Attached 3 Images of Children Enjoying Mounts Botanical Garden

(Photo Credit: Mounts Botanical Garden)

Available for Interview:

Misty Stoller

Interim Co-Director

Mounts Botanical Garden

954.292.8169 / [email protected]

Media Contact:

Gary Schweikhart

PR-BS, Inc.

451.756.4298 / [email protected]