Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Box Builder: Landscaper Jeff Sheehan was one of several volunteers who helped build new planter boxes for Willow Glen Middle School's new Life Lab, a school project that will give students the chance to grow their own vegetables.
Willow Glen middle schoolers to learn 'How does our garden grow?'
Gardens at school help students learn about nutrition and the environment
By Kate Carter
Things may be coming up roses--or rosemary, or squash, or tomatoes--at Willow Glen Middle School later this year. Adult volunteers rushed to beat the rain on March 3, and transformed a weed-and-dirt lot between two of the school's science buildings with 11 new planter boxes that will soon become an educational garden.
Students at the school will now get the opportunity to grow vegetables and other plants from seed to harvest, as part of their science curriculum.
Science teacher and environmental club moderator Bobbe Maxey acknowledges the importance of the weeds that had to be sacrificed for the new garden lot. But she could barely contain her excitement at the prospect of using the garden to teach her students everything from biology and the environment to math, social studies, art, language and physical education.
She's not the only one excited, either, she says.
"When I brought up the idea about the garden, the kids were jumping out of their seats," Maxey says. "I'm hoping they can grow carrots and then eat them and taste what a delicious, organic carrots tastes like, not like Safeway."
She and her students received their garden through the efforts of about 20 landscape contractors and workers from the local chapter of the California Landscape Contractors Association. The crew representing between eight to 10 local companies working together moved at a fast clip to get everything completed.
"It's going even faster than we thought," project co-chairman Dale von Dohren said, looking up at the cloudy sky. "Which is good."
Von Dohren and his co-chair, Barry Cohen, prepared for the project for two months and got all the time and materials donated by the organization's members and some of their suppliers.
"It's what we do everyday," he said. "At the end you just feel good, like you're putting back into the system."
The group does one volunteer project every year--last year it landscaped at a rehabilitation center in East Palo Alto. Von Dohren said for the past couple of years he has wanted to build this garden for the school in his own Willow Glen community.
The raised planter beds are a foot off the ground and 4 feet wide by 10 feet long. Each of the beds is connected to an irrigation system with drip lines installed. The watering can be controlled at each box to adjust for the needs of the different plants.
"We want to promote our industry with the kids, along with helping educate them," von Dohren says.
Maxey, who teaches four English-as-a-second-language science classes, says many of her students are familiar with gardening.
"A lot of them come from ranches and farms in Mexico and grew up eating food from the family garden," she says.
But this may be the first time the kids have to study the science behind growing plants. They will get to figure out what will grow in the relatively low sunlight garden.
"On Monday, that's my first question," Maxey says. "They have a lot of research to do."
The students will not only have to take the sunlight into account, but will also have to take air and soil temperature readings and do soil pH (acidity) testing. After they've analyzed the environment of their garden, the students will then find plants that will do well in that kind of environment.
Maxey says she also hopes to grow plants to attract butterflies and other wildlife, in an effort "to get the students to appreciate the environment and how important plants are to the environment."
In 1996, state Superintendent Delaine Eastin called for a garden in every California school, to help students learn about the environment and nutrition, among other subjects. The trend toward hands-on learning through gardening has been growing, according to Erika Perloff, education director of the Santa Cruz nonprofit Life Lab that works to establish the study of gardens in schools.
"There is a lot of activity about it," she says.
The Saturday-morning activity at Willow Glen Middle will keep the school in step with the state's educational priority. One of the volunteers, Jose Garcia, says he's glad to help out and give back to the community.
"In the future, I'll probably have my kids in this school," he says.
Willow Glen, California Since 1992
