, Jack Bisher (2015) and James Fouts (2017) help Fouts (second from left) with the service pr.jpg)
 alum Paul Fouts looks over the old flowerbeds at JCDS, where he completed service work .jpg)
 and her class.jpg)
, Jack Bisher (2015) and James Fouts (2017) help Fouts (second from left) with the service pr.jpg)
 alum Paul Fouts looks over the old flowerbeds at JCDS, where he completed service work .jpg)
 and her class.jpg)
For his Eagle Scout project, Ponte Vedra Beach resident Paul Fouts made a significant contribution of time and effort to benefit the students of the elementary school he attended, Jacksonville Country Day School (JCDS).
Fouts built raised wooden gardening beds for the use of the pre-kindergarten and kindergarten outdoor science programs at JCDS. Woods, an alum of the JCDS class of 2015, built the five flowerbeds for Early Learning students to engage with nature. He dropped them off, along with soil and plants, on Oct. 19 and helped the kindergarteners plant flowers with parent volunteer, Melissa Bernhardt; his parents, Lou and Heather; and both his brothers, James, a class of 2017 JCDS alum, and Peter, a current student at the school.
"Of everything I loved about JCDS, one thing that I found unique and especially enjoyable was how the school always took learning one step further through experiences outside of traditional classroom learning,” Fouts said. “One of those experiences was the gardening experience provided to the younger students.”
Fouts picked JCDS for the project because he wanted to do something to benefit a school he enjoyed attending. Now, he will be able to see children having fun and learning in the same environment that he did as a child.
“The children will enjoy planting and learning throughout the year with these beautiful raised flower beds,” said JCDS parent Melissa Bernhardt, who volunteers with the Early Learning gardening program.
Fouts enlisted some former JCDS classmates to help him build the gardening beds, and he also personally raised the funds for the project. With the funds left over from the purchase of wood and other parts for the flowerbeds, he purchased soil and flowers for the children to use.
Kindergarten teacher Rose Ennis, who has a passion for gardening and nature, is excited about the project. She asked Fouts to make some improvements over the current ones, including tubs that slide out, to allow the younger kids to have better access. He also had to make them shorter than expected to accommodate their small bodies.
For more information on JCDS, visit www.jcds.com.
