R.L. Stevenson Elementary held an awards ceremony recently to honor an Eagle Scout Candidate and his troop for helping with the remodel of the school garden. Vartan Matossian, Eagle Scout Candidate, and Boy Scout Troop #127 pitched in to help school volunteers with rebuilding the planting beds.
Several members of the Boy Scout troop and their leaders attended the event, along with many of the school’s garden volunteers. Other community leaders were present as well, showing their support for the garden program.
Charlene Ishkhanian, who is a parent of two troop members and a Stevenson parent volunteer, initiated the project with the troop. Charlene worked with Vartan and Claire Torrey, Volunteer Garden Coordinator at Stevenson, to come up with the plan. Their dreams of a revitalized garden space were realized after many months of planning and hard work.
Claire and Charlene presented a Certificate of Appreciation and a garden stepping stone to Vartan as thanks for his leadership on the project. Principal Debbie Ginnetti presented a Certificate of Appreciation to Scout Master Hovig Antabian on behalf of Troop #127 for their work on the project.
Ted Bunch of the Burbank Unified Board of Education also attended the party. He expressed enthusiasm about the garden remodel and thanked the parent volunteers, the troop members, and Principal Ginnetti for their service to the school. Several students also stood up to talk about the importance of the school garden.
The newly remodeled garden received a gift of two garden benches from Cartoon Network. Zita Lefebvre provided the benches on behalf of Cartoon Network, as well as seed packets for distribution to the attendees and the students.
