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Sunflower fun from Bridgend to New
York
23.09.10
by Linda McGrory
WHEN an Inishowen primary school recently posed a
challenge to see if any other school had grown as
tall a sunflower as theirs, little did they expect
their challenge to be answered all the way in New
York.
St Aengus N.S., in the border village of Bridgend,
wanted to know if their 8ft sunflower, grown by
third and fourth class, was the loftiest in the
land.
They sent their story to a local website,
InishowenNews.com, and waited in hope.
They received no responses until this week, when an
elementary school in Bardonia, New York, got in
touch via the website. They said they too had a
super-tall sunflower, scaling 8ft fall. It was grown
as part of their horticultural therapy programme run
by school psychologist, Rita Schmidt. |
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Left, Jordan McLaughlin from St
Aengus N.S., Bridgend, admires the school's lofty
sunflower. Right, pictured from left are Bardonia
Elementary School psychologist, Rita Schmidt, Megan
and Kayla McLoughlin, Stephen McDermott, Emma Carbin
and school nurse, Marian Graviano, whose parents
were from Clonmany. |
St Aengus teacher, Orla
Monaghan, said her class were surpised and delighted
with the trans-Atlantic response to their challenge.
"We thought maybe a local school would respond but
never imagined it would be picked up all the way
over in America," said Ms Monaghan. "We will be
getting in touch with Bardonia Elementary School and
the children in our two schools might be able to
track the progress of each sunflower."
Bardonia Elementary School psychologist, Rita
Schmidt, said they were delighted to respond to the
Irish challenge.
"Last June, myself and some of the children planted
10 sunflower seeds. Five grew over the summer and
one seems to be 8 feet tall and still growing," she
said. |
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