“I love watching the plants grow; it helps me to get my mind focused. And, it makes it fun to learn.”
United Way has a multi-year commitment to Verde Elementary School’s Garden Academic Integration Program, which promotes academic excellence, fosters school-community connections, boosts attendance and prevents youth violence.
“United Way’s support is making a positive impact,” said Paul Buddenhagen, of the school’s ‘VIP’ program (Verde Involving Parents). “State test scores have improved and student attendance has increased significantly, helping to bring in nearly half a million dollars of government funding over the last five years.”
For students, the Verde Partnership Garden is a patch of paradise in a gritty north Richmond neighborhood. It is home to a butterfly garden, medicinal plants, and plots shaped like Asia, Africa and South America that grow vegetables native to those continents. Science, art and English lessons revolve around garden projects.
Fifth-grader Eliana Ellner volunteers in the garden, teaching younger students about the plants’ healing properties and showing them how to sow seeds. “In a neighborhood where the high school graduation rate for adults is 50%, it is critical that learning is relevant and meaningful,” said Cassie Scott, Verde Partnership Garden Program Director.
“All cultures share a history of growing and preparing food and the academic integration project connects classroom learning to what is alive and real in students’ immediate physical, cultural and economic environment,” said Scott.
