Alison Hramiec

Hramiec originally started her program, "Healing Garden: Circle of Life," in the Boston Public Schools and will now fur ther develop it at the Boston Day & Evening Academy (an alternative competency-based high school). Students will rehabilitate and investigate a dilapidated garden behind the school and open the garden plots to the community. They also will construct meditation benches, a watering system that recycles rainwater, and share knowledge with the neighboring middle school and community through workshops. Once the garden is functioning, students will use their math skills to build a simple greenhouse and grow seedling s to be sold to sustain the project. This will provide a year-round site for fur ther research. The goal of the program is to get youth excited about learning by bringing life to an abused piece of land. Metaphorically, this initiative represents the journey of self-discovery that students begin as members of the school. Hramiec, who lives in Brighton, hopes the students will realize their own success, connect to the community, and understand that through hard work they can accomplish some thing beautiful.