"Something dramatic happened out in the wildflower garden at Helen Keeling Elementary School" wrote Thom Walker of The Arizona Daily Star.

What has happened is official National Wildlife Federation recognition of our Bird and Butterfly Garden. On Sunday, April 6th, 1997, the Keeling garden was singled out by the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) as a model of how teachers, children and community volunteers can team up to make natural gardening benefit wildlife, the environment and education.

In 1996, the Keeling Neighborhood Association received a grant to do a project with Keeling Elementary School. With the leadership and guidance of Jane E., students mapped out the garden, and selected plants. Then the students and association members spent several weeks digging, for drip irrigation lines and plants.

Then every week, Jane E. returns to Keeling to teach pupils about the animals attracted to the garden. She was heard to say "I didn't want to just do a garden and walk away."

The teachers involved with the project have used the garden in many different ways. Keeping track of the temperature and rain with math skills, science is incorporated in desert plants. The computer lab and library helped with learning how to identify birds and research. Journals are kept of what the birds used for nesting materials.