Photo by Scott McCloskey Madison Elementary Kindergarten student Taylor Henderson plants a sunflower seedling near the front entrance of the school Thursday as part of a community beautification project sponsored by the Seeing Hand Association’s Edelman Garden.

Madison Elementary students will have the opportunity to watch the fruits of their labor beautify the school grounds over the coming months as part of an Edelman Garden community outreach program on Wheeling Island.

One by one, kindergarten students carefully planted sunflower seedlings around the perimeter of the front of Madison school Thursday morning. It was part of a project called “Beautify the Block,” according to Seeing Hand Association Executive Director Karen Haught.

What was once a vacant lot on South Broadway Street on Wheeling Island, the Edelman Garden provides opportunities for the blind and visually impaired clients of the Seeing Hand Association in Wheeling.

As part of the “Beautify the Block” project, Haught said the Seeing Hand Association provided 1,000 sunflower seeds that were distributed between Edelman Garden, Madison School, and the residents of South Broadway Street.

Each Madison Elementary class was provided seeds and a garden bag to start sunflower plants in their classrooms. Once the plants had a chance to grow into small seedlings over the past few weeks, the students planted them around the outside of the school Thursday morning as part of the beautification project, according to Haught. The students were assisted by Edelman Garden Manager Meredith Browning Sterling, Assistant Garden Manager Paula Weisal, and Haught.

“The Edelman Garden on South Broadway Street is kind of known for its sunflowers — and every year at the end of season everybody compliments on how beautiful the garden is,” Haught explained. “So this year we thought we would have a project to make the Island more beautiful.”

In addition to supplying sunflower seeds for Wheeling Island residents living near the garden, Haught said they thought it would be a great educational project for the students of Madison.

“We provided a garden bag for each classroom,” Haught said. “They started sunflowers in little seed pods in cups in their rooms a couple weeks ago, and then today we’re going to plant them all around the school. So we’re hoping that they’ll survive and the kids will get to see what they grew all summer and enjoy the beautiful project.

“In the fall they can learn about either harvesting the sunflower seeds or letting the birds feed from them,” she added. “So we are also teaching them about the process of planting, watering and watching them grow.”

Madison Elementary Principal Andrea Trio said it was really neat to see the students’ excitement when they came back to school after being off for the weekend and see how much the plants had grown in such a short time.

“What a blessing,” Trio said while watching the students plant the seedlings.

She added that it is an amazing opportunity for the school to partner up with Seeing Hand and be involved with a project that will help make the school look brighter and more welcoming on the exterior. Trio hopes this will be an educational opportunity the students will remember for years to come.

“Our theme this year is ‘Be the Light,'” Trio said, “and I just think there’s a great connection with the sunflower.”