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The New York Botanical Garden is a longstanding partner of The Bronx GEAR UP Network, providing botanic education and hands-on internship opportunities to students over the years. As a result of that partnership, Bronx GEAR UP Network students from West Bronx Academy for the Future were given the unique opportunity to attend The New York Botanical Garden’s Fall Wild Medicine Institute.
The Fall Wild Medicine Institute is a workshop series where students are educated about and able to observe plants from across the globe that grow in varying environments. New York Botanical Garden experts led a tour through multiple plant ecosystems housed in the Garden, showcasing the plants that flourish in each one and explaining how they differ from one another.
Brian Hockaday, a research assistant for the New York Botanical Garden Institute of Economic Botany, outlined the life cycle and unique features of rare plants, such as the corpse flower, which only blooms once every 15 years. Through this tour, students were offered a glimpse into the life of a botanic researcher. Finally, students were instructed on how to use aloe vera for medicinal purposes, using the plant’s natural sap to create their own hand sanitizers.
Enclosed in this pakcage are photos of the students participating in the workshop, being shown rare plants by Brian Hockaday and creating hand sanitizers. We hope you enjoy viewing these activities as much as the students enjoyed participating in them.