Grade 10 St. Michaels University School students left their regular classroom routines behind for a Friday afternoon to explore service learning. The annual Service Learning and Community Engagement Day, connects students with meaningful, community-focused work while deepening their understanding of local needs. One of the three activities was groundbreaking: an ambitious, long-awaited project: the building of the school’s first rain garden. The day marked a major step forward in the SMUS’s ongoing environmental stewardship work.
The rain garden is a collaboration with Peninsula Streams and Shorelines, a long-standing SMUS partner and a lead organization in the 1000 Rain Gardens initiative with Friends of Bowker Creek. The project aligns with recommendations from a recent Campus Ecological Study, and will help improve stormwater management for Bowker Creek, which runs right under the Richmond Road campus.
As work began, groups of students took turns advancing these early stages that will form a rain garden. The whole process involves removing sod and soggy soil, shaping the basin, adding fresh soil and finally planting native species. Students also heard from a local organization, Friends of Bowker Creek, who spoke about the local watershed and the impact of rain gardens.
“Hard surfaces such as streets and parking lots force polluted water into creeks during the wet months and leave them overly dry in summer,” said Gerald Harris, former Director of the Friends of Bowker Creek, who showed the water movement on a topographical map. “Slowing and filtering stormwater through rain gardens helps restore the natural balance that supports a healthy ecosystem.”
Throughout the afternoon, Grade 10s rotated through two other service-focused activities.
Supporting Soap for Hope
In Brown Hall, students worked with Soap for Hope, preparing re-packing donated hygiene supplies for distribution to local shelters and community centres. Students rolled up their sleeves and spent time chopping up large soap blocks that were formed from soap that was too small, blemished or broken.
The soap gets re-purposed into Salish Sea Pebbles, which are sold by Soap for Hope to raise money for the organization. When not chopping up solid soap, students were filling small bottles with shampoo or body lotion to be redistributed to several organizations serving those who experience hygiene poverty.
Crafting for a Cause
Grade 10 students also got to test their creativity in a third station that partnered with the Victoria Hand Project. Students spent time creating decorations, jewelry, and writing thank-you cards for the organization’s upcoming Helping Hands for Ukraine fundraiser on Dec. 1.
Kim Arkli, a mechanical engineer with the Victoria Hand Project, explained that the event supports their campaign to provide prosthetic arms to amputees in Ukraine — part of the charity’s broader mission to deliver accessible prosthetic care around the world.
The Victoria Hand Project has been connected with SMUS in several ways over the years, from volunteer fairs to working with Grade 10 STEAM students on engineering and technology projects and now with a service-learning day.
A Day of Service With Lasting Impact
By the end of the afternoon, each student had experienced a mix of outdoor environmental work and hands-on community support. The rain garden site stood as a visible marker of the day’s work, reflecting the collective effort of students, staff, and community partners.
As the project continues to evolve, the new rain garden is expected to become both a functional green infrastructure feature and a learning resource for future classes. For the Grade 10s who helped launch it, the afternoon offered a chance to contribute to the campus environment in a lasting way and engage directly with the broader community through meaningful service.
