The John Handley Peace Pole Garden

John Handley High School's Peace Pole Garden was founded in the Spring of 2023, in conjunction with the Handley Interact Club, and the Winchester Rotary Club. Formulated, built, and kept up by students, the garden features a variety of native perennials, that also support local pollinator communities.

The original idea and planning for the garden was initiated by Ashley Truban, a John Handley and Mountain Vista Governor's School student, as well as an Interact board member. 

The native plants for the garden were donated or grown from seeds and were originally planted by Interact volunteers. The seeds for the project were provided by Sustainability Matters, through Hannah Bement, a teacher at Mountain Vista Governor's School. 

More information on Sustainability Matters and the eco-friendly initiative of the Peace Pole Garden can be found on a separate page on this website.

The seedlings were then transferred to the prepared site on John Handley High School campus. The site features a wooden triangular raised bed, and the wooden components were built by the Handley carpentry classes, another aspect of the student-centered focus of the garden.

The seedlings were planted in the garden by Interact volunteers at the end of April 2023.

Finally, at the center of the garden is the Rotary International Peace Pole, a symbol for international peace under the Peace Pole Project initiative, a global mission focused on spreading the message "May Peace Prevail On Earth".

The Peace Pole and garden were honored in an opening ceremony on May 10, 2023. The garden and Peace Pole site will continue to be maintained by Handley Interact throughout the following years.