Students turning park into butterfly garden

 KTIV NewsChannel 4 Sioux City IA: News, Weather and Sports

Posted: June 2, 2009 06:12 AM

Students turning space into butterfly garden

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KTIV) -- It started with an idea to make a change, and now it's a reality for some middle school students.

Back in October, East Middle School students joined a club called "We Can Change the World Challenge". The students met twice a week after school planning to make-over a green space in Sioux City.

The students worked with the city of Sioux City, planning and organizing their project to make-over Macomb Park in Morningside. Now, they are seeing their hard work come to life.

"We have a butterfly garden and there are some little stones that you can walk through and benches and we're going to put up a fence around it and we have a spot where we're going to put the sign in and there are flowers all around that," says Courtney Uhl, East Middle School student.

The students and other volunteers have transformed the space over the last three days. The Junior League gave them a $2,000 grant to help pay for flowers and they will be installing a playground.

Students say despite the hard work and the initial challenges, it was worth all of the hard work.

"We hope to be an inspiration to other young adults. Just because you are told no, doesn't mean you should give up," says Shelbie Uhl, East Middle School student.

The students and other volunteers will be taking care of the garden the rest of the summer.