Middle School

Westerly High School/Tower Street School Community Center

The goal of our garden is to provide a place for learning, physical activity, and connecting to the land, to enhance the interactive/exploratory outdoor classroom shared by the community all year round, and to build a haven for delicious food that is as healthy for us as it is for the land. This grant would make it possible to purchase a greenhouse at the garden, which will extend the gardening season. This will increase learning opportunities during the school year and give us the ability to start seedlings, and serve more vegetables throughout the year.

Talman Elementary School

Talman's community members want to grow things that we need in order to provide fresh vegetables and fruits to the school community. While we realize that process may be time-consuming and take a lot of planning, we are excited for the chance to become more self-sustainable by using our land to grow food. We realize that our school community struggles to rely on grocery stores that are scarce in our neighborhood, while we have unused soil that would be perfect for growing fruits and vegetables.

Glenhaven Senior Public School

We will get the student body involved in all aspects of the gardening process so they can learn about nutrition and take home fresh vegetables, fruits and herbs for their families. We are optimistic that by spreading awareness about our project, parent and community involvement will flourish in the future for Glenhaven. We also educate students with mental health concerns; students who have been removed from the main stream to address their treatment plans more effectively.

Highlander Charter School

Our school first planned a garden in 2005, which has been incorporated into our science curriciula from kindergarten to 8th grade, as well as into afterschool and summer programs. Over the course of the year, all of our 300-plus students get an opportunity to work and learn in the garden.

Detroit Institute of Technology

The Gardens @ DIT will provide the opportunity for our students, staff and community to participate in garden-based learning that will promote and support our educational objectives and ignite creativity, problem solving, and hands-on, experiential learning. We hope that those involved will learn empathy, patience and self-discipline. Our garden will provide the opportunity to teach these lifelong lessons and to give students an avenue to a more fulfilling learning experience. We recognize that our garden will be an avenue to higher standards.

The Orion School

Outdoor education and gardening have been essential components of our curriculum since our inception. We take our students hiking every Wednesday to instill a love of the outdoors. Our garden is a home to bats, listed as an endangered species by the IUCN and features a bird sanctuary and a chicken coop. Our Certified Wildlife Habitat includes an organic fruit and vegetable garden, chickens, a worm farm, a pollinator garden, compost tumblers and rain barrels; all of which are used to promote environmental education.

The Farm School

Our goal is to create a permaculture site and learning program at the school. Permaculture is a set of techniques and principals that design for human needs while caring for the earth. The garden is the central component. We want an outdoor, living classroom that is integrated into our curriculum in a hands on way. We want a learning environment that fosters communication, cooperation, critical thinking and decision making. We want to provide students with the resources and opportunities to follow their interests.

PS/IS 323

Our goal with this educational garden is two fold: to inspire students through incorporating the natural world into their learning process; and to encourage young people to consider the impact that food and nutrition have on their lives and future health. In order to achieve our goals we must complete our garden construction and secure finances to support ongoing programming. This grant specifically will allow us to kickstart our spring season by purchasing seeds and potting soil, constructing an early spring cold frame, and filling our remaining 3 garden beds with topsoil.

Lapham Elementary School

Our goal is to offer outdoor experiential learning opportunities in order to encourage exercise and healthy eating; expose students to the concepts of sustainable living and conservation; connect students to the natural world to inspire appreciation and respect for nature; encourage the integration of garden activities into classroom curriculum; and build community.

Sandcreek Middle School

First and foremost is the goal to engagement of our students in the agricultural process. Our school is very involved in S.T.E.M. activities/interventions (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). The projects will be looked at from both an agricultural and a scientific approach. We intend that all of our 779 students participate during our S.T.E.M. activity rotations (weekly). In addition, we have several schools that are close enough for walking field trips (three elementary schools and a high school). These other schools have a combined population of 2,600 students.

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