The Durham Pollinator Garden was started in the Fall of 2023 by Amy Sheck, Dean of Science with help from Erin Quinlan, Heather Mallory, Joan Barber, Shauna Farmer, Leslie Brinson, and Todd Bollinger. They worked closely with Mckenzie Hodges of Flower of Carolina to plan the garden and to coordinate the planting. 

The first round of planting was in October of 2023, right around Halloween. The second round, in April 2024, took place on 'The Slope' and involved planting 500 plugs!

Incredibly, one year later, the garden looked established. 

This garden is supported by donations to the Science Department through the NCSSM Foundation. 

The Morganton campus planted their garden in October of 2024 shortly after Hurrican Helene came through. The planning group was led by Amy Sheck, Dean of Science with the help of Chris Collins, Lindsay Smith, Kevin King, and David Williams.  Lindsay Smith's Ecology class did all of the planting!

Plants were purchased from Painter's Nursery. After the hurricane however, Painter's was closed for the rest of the season. In a generous gesture, Painter's donated a significant amount of plants over and above what we purchased.