Chicago Excel Academy

We are educators at an alternative high school on the south side of Chicago.  Our students, who are between ages 16-21, were not successful in the traditional school system for a wide variety of reasons. Because of these obstacles, they are undercredited, and for many of them, this is their last chance to earn a high school diploma.

Our students' lives are ravished by poverty, drugs, and violence.  They live in the middle of a food desert, surrounded by fast food, and their lack of nutrition is astonishing and heartbreaking.  We have decided to build the first community garden in the Roseland area to teach our students how to grow their own food and to foster pride in themselves, their school, and their community.

Our goal is to use the garden at the school to not only educate our students about nutrition and community but to also bring people of all ages together so everyone can contribute to increasing the quality of life in this neighborhood.  In order to achieve this goal we plan to utilize the creativity, diversity, and productivity of all those who want to be involved in the garden project.