SALISBURY — Even though students were on spring break, Sacred Heart Catholic School still celebrated Earth Day on April 22. Teachers, parents and students worked together to get their gardens ready for spring and summer plantings.

The school master garden had strawberries growing, and blackberry bushes were full of blooms. The lower elementary grades’ sensory garden was starting to sprout with herbs. Sacred Heart’s American Heritage Girls club pulled weeds to prepare the soil for their new “Mary’s Garden.”

Many parishioners worked to prepare the parish’s large “Our Lord’s Bounty” garden for summer vegetables, used to help feed local families in need.

Sacred Heart Catholic School plans an Earth Day celebration May 16. Students will work with volunteers from the N.C. Cooperative Extension, the Rowan County Beekeepers Association, LandTrust of Central North Carolina, Rowan-Salisbury Schools’ Horizons Unlimited and the Rowan County Master Gardener Association to learn about gardens, wildlife and being good stewards of the earth.