Wendy Roosevelt, great-granddaughter of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt, joined P.S. 34 pre-K and fifth-grade students at the recent dedication of the new F.D.R. Children’s Garden next to the E. 12th St. and Avenue D school. Above, the students posed with, in back row, Roosevelt, wearing seersucker jacket, center; pre-K teacher Dory Bergman, next to Roosevelt; Lucia and Destiny, from Bailey Taran’s fifth-grade class, at right; and Mildred Mercado, pre-K assistant teacher, at left. In the background is the cherry tree Eleanor planted in 1956 next to P.S. 34, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt School, which was designed by renowned architect Wallace K. Harrison. Below, Roosevelt took a cookie from Anita Chen, having already accepted one from Natasha Silva, with Lucia and Destiny in the background. Although Eleanor only planted a cherry tree, it is actually entwined with a young oak tree, which will eventually grow so large its shade and roots will kill the cherry tree. “It has to come down,” noted teacher Bergman, “but nobody is really willing to chop down a healthy oak.” The students cleaned up the space, formerly an eyesore when it was a garbage-strewn lot, to create the beautiful new garden. The fifth-graders, who were the school’s first pre-K class, played a big part in the project.
