Seed Your Future Launches “Plants to the Rescue” Campaign

February 16, 2021

The Latest Resource from Seed Your Future

Seed Your Future (SYF) recently announced the launch of its 2021 BLOOM! campaign designed to excite young people about the power of plants and their unique ability to help solve some of the most pressing problems in their communities. In collaboration with Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education, and media company, BLOOM! provides free eye-catching, fact-based, online content for educators, youth program leaders, and parents. Learn more and find your plant power at WeAreBLOOM.org. 

Plants are critical to a healthy future for the planet and people, but their power is unknown to most American youth. The latest BLOOM! campaign marks year four of this Seed Your Future initiative, a coalition of more than 200 partners, including The Garden Club of America, united in their mission to promote horticulture and careers of working with plants.

Seed your Future’s advisory council member Doug Needham was featured this weekend on Oklahoma Gardening Television – talking about Seed Your Future and the newest BLOOM! campaign. It’s a wonderful overview of the work – and a great pitch for the Plant Mash-up contest with Scholastic (Deadline March 1st).

“Youth have told us that they want to help solve some of the most difficult problems in our world today,” said Susan E. Yoder, executive director of Seed Your Future. “Students are learning about global health issues, world-hunger, climate change, flooding, air pollution, noise pollution, food deserts, and more, and they’re eager to do something about it — but they don’t know how or even what would make a difference. BLOOM! helps them to identify the root of each challenge and opens their eyes to how the power of plants and the people who work with them can make a positive impact.”

Seed Your Future, along with Scholastic, has expanded its online educator website Scholastic.com/BLOOM to include free downloadable educator lesson plans, student activities, inspiring wall posters, and a robust online learning module. The module contains a dynamic video along with a trivia game, virtual plant dissection tool, and plant matching game to reinforce the learning.  

The new “Plants to the Rescue! Plant Mash-Up” contest and sweepstakes takes learning a step further and engages students in imagining their own plant hybrid with unique qualities to benefit a specific challenge they identify in their own community. They will select an issue, envision and describe a new plant-based solution, and illustrate their idea. A grand prize and a runner-up prize are awarded to both the student and the educator/youth program leader/parent of the winning submissions. In addition, a sweepstakes component, where a student is randomly selected from all entries, gives every submission the chance to be a winner.

BLOOM! is educating and inspiring young people about the power of plants and green-collar careers. This year, there is also a colorful, downloadable poster introducing youth to the more than 140 careers working with plants. In addition to the educator website, the main Seed Your Future website, SeedYourFuture.org, serves as a digital hub of resources on careers in horticulture, including links to cool videos, real-life stories, and engaging content to inspire youth and their families.

“The Garden Club of America (GCA) is a member of Seed Your Future's Advisory Council, a perfect collaboration,” said Debra Oliver, GCA first vice president. “SYF promotes ‘the power of plants’ and the rewards of careers working with plants. Their work connects perfectly with our vibrant scholarship program with 29 merit-based scholarships and fellowships in 12 areas related to conservation, ecology, horticulture, and pollinator research.” Learn more about the GCA Scholarships.

 

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