Sonoma State University Garden Classroom

Sonoma State University (SSU) has an active commitment to sustainability, in both its infrastructure and academic programs. Instilling a sense of environmental stewardship in students has increasingly taken place in a living lab, Copeland Creek, which crosses campus.

The Garden Classroom (Department of Environmental Studies and Planning), adjacent to the creek, has become a hub for university students across campus, and serves as a hands-on, interdisciplinary outdoor classroom for creek restoration activities, habitat gardening, and food production and preparation.

Our aim is a regional university center that can provide resources and training for K-12 school garden coordinators, classroom teachers, and students in the teacher credential program. Copeland Creek provides the ecological and educational threads that weave from its headwaters at the University’s Fairfield Osborn Preserve through campus and beyond, and connect students to their neighborhood, and their place in the world.

In the immediate future, we propose to increase the reach and impact of the SSU Garden Classroom, by offering workshops for teaching credential students, classroom teachers and school garden coordinators, and outreach to the community.