Salina Green Schoolyards coming to Dearborn this fall
DEARBORN, Mich (FOX 2) - Students in the Salina neighborhood will see more green, nature-based spaces headed to their campus.
The neighboring Salina Elementary and Salina Intermediate schools are expanding their Green Schoolyards space as part of an approximately $425,000 project at the schools, funded mostly by grants, donations and in-kind support.
"Our belief is every child should experience the joy and benefits of nature regardless of where they live. Dearborn Public Schools Green Schoolyards support 21st century education; promote children’s health, wellbeing and joy; and function as ecologically rich community environments that connect children and their neighborhoods to the natural world," said Sue Stanley, Principal of Salina Elementary. "In other words, we are committed to bringing childhood back outdoors."
Green Schoolyards is a concept that encourages exposing students to more natural settings for their health, for play, and for learning. Changes underway include installing a kindergarten Green Schoolyard space, starting the schoolyard space near the Salina Intermediate Community Center, adding more trees and landscaping, finding space for a recreation field at Salina Intermediate, and adding outdoor classrooms on the campus. Future plans include adding more trees and green play spaces at the schools over the next few years. Both schools already have vegetable and pollinator gardens. The elementary school also already has a rain garden, and Salina Intermediate, with assistance from Friends of the Rouge, will install a rain garden in September.
"Dearborn Green Schoolyards promote healthy and happy children by connecting them to their environment through nature-based learning and play," according to the group’s mission statement.
School staff will also be trained on how to help incorporate Green Schoolyards ideas into the classroom and how to help connect students with the natural spaces. Connecting to natural spaces has been shown to improve students’ physical and mental health, and evidence is growing that it also supports stronger academic results.
About 970 students in preschool through eighth grade attend Salina Elementary and Salina Intermediate schools.
The initiative defines Green Schoolyards as "outdoor environments that strengthen local ecological systems, provide learning opportunities, and foster a wide range of play and social opportunities while enhancing social and emotional connections, health and wellbeing."
The new preschool and kindergarten learning and playspace being installed at Salina Elementary will feature a rain garden, nature-based structures, wooden stepper path, clamber logs, wooden poles for sitting, spring riders, a tricycle path for riding, additional trees and shrubs for heat shelter and air filtering, and expanded green space for playing.
"I don’t have to go into depth or into detail to explain all the benefits of just being outside in nature and having the Green Schoolyards in our community," said Eman Ahmed, Principal of Salina Intermediate. Green Schoolyards is an international model, and the district received a grant for development of the schoolyards from the Children and Nature Network.
Besides helping students, the additional green space is expected to help the community through improved stormwater mitigation, meaning more stormwater will be absorbed into the ground or delayed from entering the stormwater drainage system. Increasing tree cover and vegetation in the area should also assist with air quality concerns and reduce the impact of heat islands during the summer.
The Salina campus is adjacent to a major industrial area, and the neighborhood faces environmental challenges with air quality and flooding from excessive stormwater runoff.
Donors for the project to date include the City of Dearborn, Friends of the Rouge, University of Michigan-Dearborn/Wayne State University DSHINES Gardens, Cleveland Cliffs Foundation, Dearborn Sausage, CMS Energy Foundation, Dearborn Community Fund, ACCESS, Home Depot, Edw. C. Levy Co., Southenders, the InterCultural Community Center of Dearborn, Players Guild, Boy Scouts, and The Exchange Club of Dearborn.
Fundraising continues. The Dearborn Education Foundation has helped support the Green Schoolyards with several grants.
During the April 11, 2024 Board of Education meeting, Principal Stanley introduced representatives from many of the donor organizations.
"As you can see, we talk about it being a village and a community (that it takes to raise a child). This was a dream, and these people all made it come true," Stanley said.