Flowering Tree cultural learning center. Waukegan IL

Hello, my name is Calvin Piktel

I am a native Waukegan resident and for the past few years I have been involved in different urban agriculture projects going on in town. I have assisted in the development and curriculum  implementation of a large greenhouse at Jefferson middle school and I also assisted in the renovations and re-implementation of the green house at Bowen Park. I have attended classes on teaching plant biology and connecting with children about growing their own food and have first hand seen the impact that these programs can have on our youth.

Joe Russell, a long time Waukegan resident and district 60 teacher created a program within the greenhouse at Jefferson (thats how we met!) that had a massive impact on the students, this resulted in a large grade point average rise in the involved students and eventually led to a large investment from pharmaceutical company Abbott. The greenhouse is still in operation and programs are ran throughout the year teaching kids the significance of growing their own food as well as all the accompanied sciences you can learn about soil / hydroponic growing and plant biology. 

Our Mission

There is an old church/school on the south side of Waukegan and our goal is to renovate the building and open it up as a summer program learning center. Emulating the same curriculum that Joe R. came up with at Jefferson. 

When in full swing this cultural learning center will offer classes for.

•     Urban agriculture. (Small scale container gardening, Aeroponic tower gardening, importance of soil and all of its inhabitants, composting, nutrition and more.)
•     Sewing. Each student selects a fabric, then they research the county of origin. Once selected the student will write letters to the family that produced the fabric and ask questions about the proprietary color and patterns. Students will design a garment and create their own pattern. For the final project, the student creates a garment that they will wear in the culminating performance art that honors and reflects the fabrics culture of origin. This will give our students a hands on and different approach to learning Geography by searching for a fabrics origin, Students will learn  Writing, English Language, Etiquette and Culture through communicating with the families through letter and lastly gain understanding of Math and Geometry through the intricate fabric designing process. All of the Illinois standards.
•     Music (Allowing children to express and explore instrumentation with multiple instruments that we will provide.)
•     Performing arts (Allowing kids to perform dance, singing and acting.)
• Updates to come on more details of classes!

At the moment we have a teacher for each department!

Right now we need to secure the buildings rent fee's so that for the upcoming months we may start bringing in equipment renovating the building and building our curriculum. They are charging $500 per month so I have set a goal of $12,000. This will allow us to secure the grounds for 2 years allowing us to focus on everything else about the program. 

Our plan is to have this program running by the time full summer rolls around.

We are really excited to offer this to the community and hope that with your help we can really start this off strong giving the program and the town an honest chance at helping its local inhabitants.

Donate what feels right

We will be updating this Fundly often as the weeks progress and we start moving equipment into the building. I hope you are as excited as we are! Pictures of the grounds, more details of programs and teachers to come. 

If you have any questions about it please feel free to reach out to me via email [email protected] and I will answer any questions / concerns you may have :)