Who: Countryside High School Parent, Teacher and Student Association (PTSA), Countryside High School band and color guard, Southwest Florida Water Management District
What: The Countryside High School PTSA will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the new Florida-friendly landscaping in front of the school. The band and color guard will perform during the ceremony. A campus clean-up will follow the ribbon-cutting.
The Florida-friendly landscaping was completed with the help of a Splash! mini-grant from the Southwest Florida Water Management District.
When: Saturday, May 2, 9 a.m.
Where: Countryside High School, 300 State Road 580 in Clearwater.
District Contact: Mary Torrusio, youth education specialist, 800-432-1476, ext. 4773
School Contacts: Tony Atherholt, agriscience teacher, or Patti Humberstone, PTSA vice president of programs, (727) 725-7956
Countryside Florida-friendly landscaping Fact Sheet
Countryside High School, which opened in 1981, has had two irrigation systems installed. Instead of installing a third irrigation system, the school has chosen to use Florida-friendly plants to landscape the front of the school.
The Boy Scouts and the Parent, Teacher and Student Association (PTSA) have worked together to landscape four of the plots in front of the school. They have also relocated two of the pieces of sculpture that were on the school property to the front of the school to create a sculpture garden.
Tony Atherholt, an agriscience teacher, applied for and received a Splash! mini-grant from the Southwest Florida Water Management District for the project. The grant was for $4,880.93.
Atherholt’s students pulled out the old, overgrown plants that lined the central walkway up to the school and replanted the area with palm trees. They also added new plants and mulch to the plots. Atherholt and other science teachers will use the garden to illustrate the water cycle and how Florida-friendly landscaping practices help conserve water.
Mr. Atherholt’s students will also calculate the amount of water saved by using the natural watering cycle instead of an irrigation system.
The PTSA’s “Countryside Conservation it starts with you” campaign features the newly, Florida-friendly landscaped area. The ribbon-cutting and campus clean-up are part of the conservation campaign.