This year, students in Mrs. Grunder’s 5th grade class at Mary Snow School in Bangor embarked on a journey of environmental learning, creative expression, and community action. In January 2025, the class joined a Maine Audubon “Curious by Nature” online education session, where they met Annette Dodds and Greg Edwards, co-founders of Bangor Beautiful. The students were captivated by the duo’s unique work at the intersection of mural art and native plant restoration, which reimagines how public spaces can both inspire and support local ecosystems.
Energized by what they learned, the students decided to bring this vision to life at their own school. They planned not only to create a mural celebrating the relationship between native plants and healthy ecosystems, but also to plant native species on their school grounds to help restore biodiversity right where they learn and play. Their work began in the depths of winter, sowing native plant seeds indoors to prepare for a springtime bloom. As their plants quietly took root, so did their mural plans. Students sketched ideas and mapped out a design that reflected the beauty and purpose of native plants and pollinators. To take their project to the next level, local artist Charlene Lutz joined them in the classroom to teach about scale and proportion, helping them translate their sketches into a full-sized mural layout.
With brushes in hand and ideas in motion, the students brought their vision to life over several weeks—transforming the entrance of their school into a vibrant celebration of art and ecology. As they now prepare to move on to their next school adventure, these 5th graders leave behind more than painted boards and garden beds. They’ve left a living legacy—a space that will grow and bloom for future classes.
This project is part of the culmination of a two-year environmental education partnership between Maine Audubon and the Bangor School Department, made possible through a generous grant from the Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) program, funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
