Club members create Ben Logan gardening plots
Benjamin Logan Schools teacher Spencer Reames, left, works with the district’s Environmental Science Club students Wednesday to build raised gardening beds made out of white cedar. (PHOTO | CHERYL ERWIN)
A chill to the air could still be felt Wednesday with temperatures in the 20s and 30s, but Benjamin Logan Environmental Science Club members, along with their advisers and adult helpers, worked that afternoon in the high school’s agricultural education shop to construct an important gardening vessel that in the upcoming warmer months will sprout new life as it provides an opportunity for student learning and growth.
With drills and hammers in hand, club members created raised garden beds out of white cedar that will be placed at each of Benjamin Logan’s elementary school, middle school and high school. The effort is part of the district-wide Growing Gardens, Growing Minds Toward a Healthier Future program that began this year and incorporates a number of produce-growing and healthy-eating initiatives, as previously reported in the Examiner.
Benjamin Logan Schools student Katie Worley applies screws in a raised bed frame Wednesday during a session of the Benjamin Logan Environmental Science Club (PHOTO | BRUCE SMITH)
“The kids are really into what we’ve been doing on campus. They were focused and worked very efficiently,” club adviser and Benjamin Logan fourth-grade teacher Bruce Smith said about the raised bed construction and overall program.
“We had several high school students who formed teams with younger kids to turn out these frames. I think that they were proud of their accomplishments. They should be.” Funding for Growing Gardens, Growing Minds Toward a Healthier Future is made possible through a $10,000 Mary Rutan Foundation’s Community Health & Wellness Grant, and a $2,700 Martha Holden Jennings Foundation Grant for the raised beds written by Smith.
Benjamin Logan Elementary second-grade teacher Ryan Kerns, left, and students M.J. Ricketts and Katie Worley lift a lid for a raised bed. (PHOTO | CHERYL ERWIN)
As one of the instructors leading the project this week, the fourth-grade teacher said these raised beds soon will support a lettuce mix with some radishes and possibly spinach as well. Once the salad ingredients have been harvested, other plants will be grown in the beds during the summer months, he explained.
“Second-grade teacher Ryan Kerns, who is also a Logan County Farmer’s Market vendor, is taking the lead in setting up a timetable so that before the end of the year the students will be able to enjoy a salad they have grown. We’ll add kohlrabi that will be started in the greenhouse as well.”
Also prior to the actual gardening activities, an attitude inventory was created and administered to students in grades 3, 6, 9 and 12, focused on current eating habits, knowledge of nutrition, and attitudes toward a healthful diet, Sally Stolly, director of curriculum and gifted services, previously explained. This survey will periodically track students during the next 10 years.
The raised beds were put in place Wednesday at Benjamin Logan Elementary School. (PHOTO | BRUCE SMITH)
“I think that we have an opportunity to have a positive impact on the lives of our students by connecting them to the food that they eat and by making available to them the resources that they will need to make choices to enrich their lives,” Smith said.
“We’ve begun collecting data through a survey that will track what we hope to be changing attitudes and practices that will result in more healthful lives for all of our kids. What the Environmental Science Club has been doing is an important part of the project.”
Read complete story in Saturday’s Examiner.
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