New BLOOM! campaign introduces youth to plant-based solutions to community challenges

MARTINSVILLE, Ind. — On Jan. 15, Seed Your Future announced the launch of “Plants to the Rescue!” — its newest BLOOM! campaign 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. Teaming up with Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education and media company, BLOOM! provides free fact-based content delivered both inside and outside of the classroom.

Plants are critical to a healthy future for the planet, but their power is unknown to most American youth. The latest BLOOM! campaign marks year three of this initiative of Seed Your Future, a coalition of more than 200 partners — including horticulture companies, gardening organizations, schools, colleges, universities, public gardens, youth organizations, nonprofit organizations and individual advocates — united in their mission to promote horticulture and careers working with plants.

“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. “They hear about world-hunger, climate change, flooding, air pollution, noise pollution, food deserts and more and they’re anxious 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 plants and the people who work with them can make a positive difference.”

Seed Your Future, along with Scholastic, has expanded its educator website — Scholastic.com/BLOOM. The site includes sample lesson plans, student activities, 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 in the activities and video. 

The new contest and sweepstakes — the “Plants to the Rescue! Plant Mash-up” takes learning a step further and engages students in imagining their own plant hybrid with unique qualities to benefit a specific challenge in their own community. They will select an issue, then describe a new plant-based solution and illustrate their idea. Prizes are awarded to both the student and the educator/youth program leader/parent of the winning submissions. In addition, a sweepstakes component of the contest gives every submission the chance to be a winner.

BLOOM! is educating and inspiring young people about the power of plants and green-collar career opportunities. New this year is a colorful classroom poster introducing youth to the more than 100 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.

Seed Your Future’s premise is that whether BLOOM! introduces today’s youth to a lifelong passion or a fulfilling career, one thing is clear — the more you know about plants, the more you can make a difference in the world today.

Learn more and find your plant power at www.wearebloom.org

For information, visit us at www.seedyourfuture.org