Cultivating Connection: A Science Teacher’s Blossoming Idea

Greenhill brings more native plants to campus, aims to restore Blackland Prairie

Visitors of the Greenhill School will likely notice colorful feathers strewn about campus from a bird that’s been a staple of the grounds since the 1960s.

But when science teacher Gretchen Pollom first became a faculty member in 2018, it wasn’t the peacocks that caught her attention, but instead the quiet charm of native birds outside of her classroom. Pollum asked for a pair of binoculars so her students could study them more closely.

The middle school teacher, who grew up on Indiana farmland, was accustomed to looking at her outdoor surroundings, including the color of the soil. The naturalist wasn’t thrilled to find the discolored, pesticide-fi

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