Our project is to construct a remembrance and meditation garden that can be used by our teachers, counselors, and staff to meet the mental health needs of our students. Often, our counselors use walking, as
well as the outdoors, to deescalate students and to address their varying mental health needs. This garden would be a valuable resource as a place for our students to reflect on the issues that are making their day
difficult, as well as home for the many support groups run by our counselors. Moreover, teachers can take small classes to our garden to conduct a variety of activities in a welcoming environment. In addition, we will
will be using the construction of the garden as a service and vocational project for our students. We are collaborating with our county STEM Coordinator (Bryan Shumaker) to help us with native plants, as well as the Carroll County Career and Tech Center to construct a stone seating area. Students will take pride in planting the flowers, mulching, spreading stone, and completing a wonderful space to use during their time at Gateway. The garden will honor a Gateway student who was lost to violence, just weeks before her graduation in 2020, as well as other Gateway students that we have lost.

Moreover, we are attempting to engage a variety of community partners to help us fund and execute the project.