Student-Installed Garden Helps Church Memorialize Parishioners

A student design brought to flourishing life by a Landscape Operations class from Pennsylvania College of Technology is being considered a memorial garden at First United Methodist Church in Montgomery.

"It's nice when students can be involved in a project like this because it gives them a sense of community and lets them know they can make a difference in using their skills," said Carl J. Bower Jr., a faculty member in the college's School of Natural Resources Management.

Landscaping students have had the opportunity to work at the church several times over the past couple years, he said.

The first was last year, when Landscape Design students from the college's Schneebeli Earth Science Center created a plan for the area. Then, as part of the PLANET Day of Service in April 2010, Bower's students weeded and ripped out plants in preparation for a future installation. (PLANET is the acronym for the Professional Landcare Network, which accredits Penn College's landscape/horticulture technology: landscape emphasis major.)

More than just plants, the horticulture instructor noted, the space is being considered by the church as a place of reverence and remembrance of past members.

"The First United Methodist Church appreciates the Penn College landscaping class in helping make the memorial garden a reality," parishioner Mary Tennant said.

For more information about the School of Natural Resources Management, visit online or call 570-320-8038.

For more about Penn College, visit on the Web , email or call toll-free 800-367-9222.

Photos by Carl J. Bower Jr., horticulture instructor