Potential Master School Gardeners,

Please mark your calendars and plan to attend the Master School Gardener Training Date set for Monday, September 17, 2007.

The training will start at 6 p.m. and end at about 8:30 p.m.

The location is of the training will be: 300 North Elizabeth Street, Chicago, IL 60607.

This location is the University of Illinois Extension office for the North Side of Chicago. We are located on the 3^rd floor of the building. The building is six stories tall and has a large "Chicago Bancorp" sign on the top of it and a black "Fulton West" sign on the front. The building is at the intersection of Elizabeth ST and Fulton Market (the closest major intersection is Ogden Ave and Lake ST.

Parking: on the NORTH side of the building there is a parking lot (which has two large, red pillars at the entrance). Go into that lot and park in any of these remaining spots: 26-30, 34, 35. Be sure you park in one of these spots (Extension owns them). These spots are free to park in, as long as you park in the right number. Other spots belong to other tenants; hence you could be towed if you park in them. There might also be some street parking along Elizabeth Street.

CTA: This office is about 6 blocks east of the Ashland stop on the green el line. Also, we are about three blocks north of the Madison Street Bus #20 (Throop Stop).

What to bring: You can bring a notepad and a pen or pencil to take notes if you like. If you forget to bring a pen or pencil, we can loan you one.

What to expect: This training will cover all the basics of becoming a Master School Gardener, what a Master School Gardener is, what is expected of a MSG, what is not expected of a MSG, some basic school gardening information, where to get resources for school gardens, and much more. After this training, you should have a really good idea if this program is for you. Once you have received the training, we assign you to a school and the volunteer work begins. We have four quarterly meetings/continuing education throughout the year, as well as some additional continuing education along the way as needed and as requested (for example, the cool season training we are doing in September is one of those).

If you have further questions: Please email or call me.

We look forward to meeting all of you at the training!

Matt Kostelnick

University of Illinois Extension

Horticulture Educator

Cook County, District Four

300 N. Elizabeth, Suite 310-C

Chicago, IL 60607

(312) 752-4692

http://web.extension.uiuc.edu/cook/

http://web.extension.uiuc.edu/cook/urbanhort.