Photo Credit: Steven Phan / Oakland High
TENDING PHILLIP's GARDEN Kevin Davis, 18, a senior at Oakland High School, waters lettuce planted in the Oakland
High School garden. Davis was a close friend of Phillip Wright, an Oakland High student who was murdered in November
2009. The garden, including a gingko tree, is dedicated to Wright's memory.
June 3, 2011
Mindy Nguyen, Oakland High
Imagine walking through the campus of Oakland High School. As you pass by the parking lot, you begin to feel curious about what lies beyond the portable classrooms. Glancing to your left, you are disappointed by the sight of a trashed school garden, and a picket sign that reads, “parking lot under construction.”
It’s a fate that Oakland High students and teachers hope to avoid.
What will happen to Oakland High’s school garden, the subject of a yearlong project by students and teachers to create a memorial garden in honor of a slain student, is up in the air, pending the completion of a Measure B-funded reconstruction project this summer, school officials said.
“I can’t tell what will happen to the back area until the buildings are done,” said Principal Alicia Romero. “Maybe (the garden) will stay, maybe it will move.”
In a separate interview with reporters from Oakland High’s newspaper, the Aegis, Assistant Principal Anisa Rasheed said it is possible that the garden could be expanded.
“It’s my understanding that it’s supposed to expand,” said Rasheed. “The portables (in front of the garden) are going to be demolished this summer. Once the portables are taken away, there will be even more space. Part of it will revert to parking, but not all of it. The garden will actually be a little larger than it is now.”
The garden, about the size of a classroom, with several raised planting beds, has been a battleground in recent years with school officials
eyeing it as a potential source of additional parking or classroom space.
Beginning in September, resource teachers Amy Wilder and Megan Reddy led the creation of a vegetable garden. Planting began with an indoor grow lab, paid for with an $800 grant from DonorsChoose.org. Then came months of planting, weeding and watering, all without the use of chemicals. As spring arrived, so did the veggies; the small plot located in the southwest corner of campus now includes radishes, peas, carrots, and basil.
Teachers say the garden may help achieve some long-term goals.
“I think that students learning how to grow their own food could have a major effect on their eating patterns, which could certainly fight childhood obesity,” said Wilder, a math teacher. “There’s a Whole School food movement which I think Oakland High could really capitalize on if we’re willing to invest the time and resources.”
“The garden program teaches kids that gardening’s not just a thing for girls,” said sophomore Elizabeth Flippin, who has worked in the garden as part of her math class with Wilder. “You can plant your own food, (such as) fruits (and) vegetables. You don’t have to go to a store all the time.”
Unfortunately, the modernization project and the school’s ongoing need for space for classrooms and parking threaten open spaces such as the garden, students and teachers say.
Although she could not commit to keeping the garden next year, Romero showed support as well, saying, “Definitely, we need a garden.”
Surprisingly, the garden has also become a place to develop math skills. Wilder’s students are learning about geometry by using the garden to take measurements, study angles and calculate circumference. “It’s directly benefiting (my students), increasing their academic achievement by learning these math skills but in a broader sense,” said Wilder.
Reddy and her class plan to plant radishes, carrots, salad greens, tomatoes, and cantaloupes. Wilder and her students, on the other hand, will be planting flowers in the indoor grow lab, including snapdragons, violas, and marigolds. Students have high hopes of having a salad party by the end of the year.
“I grew up on a farm, and I grew up farming and learning how things grow, and it’s a really valuable experience for me,” said Wilder. “There’s something really powerful about students recognizing how things grow and having that experience.”
The garden is “a good thing,” agreed Flippin. “When I’m out in the garden, it helps me to concentrate, to clear my head.”
School gardens are a growing trend among schools nationwide. Shortly after moving into the White House in 2008, First Lady Michelle Obama made the White House garden into the beginning of a national campaign against childhood obesity, expanding it by 400 square feet and planting vegetables such as backhoe and artichokes. The move created a national focus on healthy food awareness.
Oakland High’s garden will receive a $200 grant for supplies from the Open Circle Foundation, as part of the Oaktown Teen Times’ “Sharing the Harvest” school garden project.
Loading ...