Larry Guinn Special Programs Ctr.

Larry Guinn Special Programs serves at risk High School students within the Plano district. Many of our students have never interacted with nature and do not have an understanding of what whole foods are nor what it takes to bring food to the table. We have a twofold objective with our garden: First, teach students the basics of how to grow edible plants for food and their benefits. Benefits can include lower grocery bills, higher nutritional content due to freshness, exercise by tending the garden, and a sense of well being and satisfaction from working.

Second, we use the garden as a metaphor to teach life lessons. Gardens present problems continuously and many times those problems are unanticipated. How do we recover from a sudden hail storm that wrecks havoc on our crop? How well we plan, how creative we are with resources, when and how we seek professional advice and how we handle recovery can all be taught with the garden. We use the garden to teach about life and living.