The students at Adams Elementary have a new classroom. This one is outside, featuring their newly dedicated rain garden.
On Friday afternoon, the school officially dedicated the rain garden with an all-school assembly on the front lawn. King County Councilman Larry Phillips said a few words and students read poems that they’d written. “Nature is everlasting at the Adams rain garden,” one student read.
The rain garden was the idea of David Minnery, spouse of Adams teacher Adrienne Minnery and at the time a University of Washington grad student. He created the garden for his master’s thesis and with help from Adams parents and staff, was able to get funding and see the project come to fruition.
The assembly wouldn’t be complete without a demonstration of how the rain garden works. Minnery and Guy Michaelsen, an Adams dad and instrumental player in making this rain garden a reality, opened the valve and let the water flow out of the cistern, down the ‘slide’ and into the rain garden below.
The students thoroughly enjoyed playing in the water and watching how it worked. “Adams is on the walking route to the Ballard Locks, downtown Ballard and our wonderful Sunday market. We invite everyone to make a stop along the way to enjoy our rain garden,” parent Alison Krupnick says.
![](https://www.myballard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024-My-Ballard-Tile-Ad-Troop-100.png")
what a great thing to be excited about.
This seems cool, although I’m curious why the water appeared to be leaking off the side at the end of the video (1:05)? Is that normal, or was it because the kids were diverting the flow of the water with their hands?
Ben, The water comes out of the cistern and travels down the ‘slide,’ then empties over the side (where all the kids were getting wet) into the rain garden itself. -Kate
Adams Rain Garden Rocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!