On Friday (Oct 2, 2026), we broke ground in every sense of the words.
 
Students and community partners came together at Annapolis Middle School to begin planting the Eco Crew Monarch Garden. As shovels entered the soil and the first plants found their new home, we were doing
more than creating a habitat for monarchs and other pollinators.
 
We were also breaking ground on DreamForge STEAM Academy™.
 
For more than a year, DreamForge has been a vision nurtured through planning, partnership, persistence, and a shared belief in what becomes possible when young people are given opportunities to discover their strengths.
This past Friday, that vision moved from plans on paper to students with their hands in the soil;
learning, creating, and becoming.
 
We are incredibly grateful to Terryl Acker-Carter from the Anne Arundel County Watershed Stewards Academy, DreamForge’s Eco Crew Program Lead, for bringing his environmental knowledge, leadership, and commitment to sustainable landscapes and clean waters into this experience. Through Eco Crew, students will learn about
native plants, pollinators, watersheds, conservation, and environmental careers while
helping create and care for a living outdoor classroom.

This is what it means to Become a Steward.

We also extend our heartfelt appreciation to Carmera Thomas-Wilhite from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and to Ratasha Harley and Choyce Simmons from One Annapolis, Inc, DreamForge’s Impact Crew Program Leads, for coming out to support this important beginning. Their presence reflected the spirit at the heart of DreamForge: partners showing up not only for their individual programs, but for one another; and, most importantly, for our students.
 
The ground has been opened.  
The first seeds have been planted.  
And DreamForge has officially begun to grow.
 
Six Crews. Six Paths. One Mission.  
Dream It. Build It. Become It.