As summer settles into the crisp, cool days of fall, the school garden at 51风流 Global Academy continues to flourish, with visits from buzzing bees, butterflies floating through the air, and the occasional bunny hiding between the potting soil bags.
PGA students in the school’s Garden Club have been preparing their garden for the cooler months ahead by planting fall vegetables, starting a seed-saving collection, and more. As the seasons shift, students are harvesting the results of their hard work both in terms of food and the new skills and experiences they have acquired.
Alpine Griffin, a junior at PGA, originally joined the club to spend more time with friends each week. She quickly found out how much fun it is to learn about gardening and growing food with peers.
“I think having something like Garden Club is important for students because it gives us an opportunity to learn how to grow and cook our own food,” Griffin said. “Garden Club also has a very supportive community feel to it, which is great for students of all types.”
Gifted and Talented Coordinator Kate Stevens and Eliana Okeson, science teacher, supervise the PGA Garden Club. School gardens are common throughout the district at many schools, helping students stay connected with nature and the world around them. PGA's garden is one of the newest. Originally launched in 2021 with one-third of the current growing space, staff and students have expanded and upgraded their garden thanks to plenty of hard work.
Stevens says this garden would not be where it is now without the grants that have provided major support for infrastructure and perennial pollinator plants. A grant they earned from the People & Pollinators Action Network provided about $1,800 to design a space that protects local pollinators and equip the garden with raised metal beds that will have a long life span.
This has been a team effort, and students have been incredible leaders in this work by applying for grants, dreaming up what the funds could be used for, and acting as stewards of their grant funds. Last year, Garden Club members applied for and received a learning garden grant encouraging food literacy from a local small business, Project Pizza.
The expanded garden gives students space to grow a large variety of plants like tomatoes, cucumbers, tomatillos, strawberries, sunflowers, and more. The garden also offers unique learning opportunities in subjects like literacy, science, math, cooking, and nutrition.
Many students are excited about the cooking component of PGA’s Garden Club, like Trent Quinones, a junior who said it initially surprised him.
“I think it's a good skill to teach people,” he said. “You don't (often) go to a school and there's a gardening class. Maybe in college you can take culinary classes but in high school, it's a cool thing to learn how to garden and then make stuff with what you've learned.”
Learning new skills and then applying them is at the core of Garden Club; students use what they plant and plant what they will use, ensuring nothing goes to waste.
This mindset is practiced weekly as students collect food from the garden, learn a new recipe, and then take home any remaining fresh food. Whatever is not selected by students goes out to the PGA community, including the PSD Teen Parent Program. By next spring, the club will create a plan for intentional planting to help feed their community.
The community impacts of the garden are already being felt by students at PGA.
Aspen Rupp-Zimmerman, a sophomore new to the school, said having this space is important to her because she lives in an apartment complex with little outdoor space. She tried to grow cherry tomatoes before but had little success on her own.
“It's good for the community and everyone,” she said. “Lately, my family has been tight on money, and my mom and sister have had a hard time finding jobs. I think it's nice if I pick something from here; even if it's not big, I can make something.”
Although Garden Club is for high school students, the garden provides many learning opportunities for the entire school, and some staff have incorporated it into lessons.
As an online hybrid school, teachers and parents partner to provide instruction for PGA students. Once a month, K-8 students have Friday Fun Club, which provides enrichment opportunities and builds community among PGA classmates, families, and staff. The garden at PGA served as the kick-off spot for Friday Fun Club this year, with parent volunteers teaching students about plants and gardens before students and their families explored the garden, tried different vegetables, and completed a fall craft.
It takes a lot of work to create a functioning school garden and even more work to keep it sustainable, but the long-term value of Garden Club is seen school-wide and beyond. Stevens hopes this garden will continue to feed and nourish the community for generations.
“Providing young people access to natural spaces, to growing food, and to connecting with nature is so deeply needed to support mental health, connection, and belonging,” she said. “I hope in the future we have a robust horticulture and gardening program where students can continue to learn the skills that bring them joy and connection, whether that's future employment or hobbies, or just the pride that comes with tasting a perfectly ripe tomato."
