Dec. 5, 2022 -- While our district elementary students have playgrounds and gardens and outdoor learning spaces, CH-UH knows that even high school students benefit from spending time outdoors. This was part of the motivation behind creating the Delisle Garden located on the property of the Delisle Options Center, just a short walk from the high school.

The garden was the brainchild of Heights High intervention specialist and English teacher Steven Warner and the Environmental Club he advised between 2010 and 2015. Students spent several springs and summers designing and building the eight sections that make up the garden and the fence that keeps it safe. The group chose a circular design so math classes could study the geometry of the space. 

The sections hold a variety of native flowers including milkweed, a plant that is critical for migrating butterflies and a staple in pollinator gardens across the Midwest. The Delisle Garden exists for all Heights High or Options students and their teachers to visit and study.

Several times this fall, fellow intervention specialist and science teacher Elizabeth McDonald took her students with special needs to study the garden and collect milkweed to donate to the Cuyahoga County Soil and Water Conservation District. Students also made observations and tracked plant growth as the seasons changed.

This kind of hands-on learning is exactly what the garden was built to do. Mr. Warner also frequently brings his students and hopes that other teachers will incorporate the garden into their lessons. As he says, “Working outdoors with the garden always makes learning fun for students. The students enjoy being outside so much and they appreciate the change of pace of being out of the classroom.”