In October 2008, the Clermont Soil & Water Conservation District received an Ohio Environmental Education Fund grant to construct 10 demonstration rain gardens at schools throughout Clermont County. Grant partners included the Clermont County Storm Water Management Department, Marvin’s Organic Gardens, Greenacres Foundation and the Clermont County Educational Services Center. Students and teachers from the participating schools worked with the Project Team on everything from locating, sizing and designing the garden to planting and mulching. Rain gardens were created at the following locations:
- Batavia High School
- Bethel-Tate Middle School
- Clermont Northeastern High School
- Clough Pike Elementary School (West Clermont School District)
- Felicity-Franklin High School
- Grant Career Center in Bethel
- Goshen High School
- Milford Junior High School
- Pattison Elementary (Milford School District)
- Williamsburg Middle School
The project also involved the development of a booklet of educational activities that will help turn the rain gardens into learning labs for the schools. Current and future students will have the opportunity to perform experiments and study how the gardens perform for many years.