Ashburton College student Cody Robins is proud of a project he has undertaken which embodies the school’s emblem.
The autistic 20-year-old attends the school’s student learning support unit, Te Whare Manaaki.
After starting at the college about seven years ago, Robins saw a beautiful camellia in the school grounds near the Ashburton Community Pool demolition site.
He took a cutting from it, so the shrub could grow again and be replanted back in the area in years to come.
Te Whare Manaaki teacher in charge Cheryl Hardy got on board with the project, and helped Robins care for the camellia over the years.
Today a big healthy shrub, the camellia was recently planted by Robins, with the help of principal Simon Coleman.
Just like Robins had hoped, it is now near where he saw the original bush all those years ago.
It is in the garden of Te Whare Manaaki, which is in the college’s state-of-the-art Rangitata block which opened in February.
Robins, who said his autism was his ‘‘special power’’, is happy to have brought something of the old into the new.
Hardy added the camellia project embodied the symbolism behind the school’s emblem of a phoenix, a mythical bird known for its ability to be reborn from its ashes.
‘‘When Cody is an old man he can come back and see it,’’ Hardy said.
She said Robins was a dab hand when it came to gardening. He had also planted out a garden bed near the newly-planted shrub with flowers, including daffodils, tulips and pansies.
