A new community garden at Monroe Clark already is bearing fruit…er, vegetables.| Photo Credit: Christina Chomut
By Julia Richardson
Haga clic aquí para leerlo en Español
At first glance, photography and gardening may not appear to have much in common. But at Monroe Clark Middle School in City Heights, an effort aimed at having students photograph their environment led them to realize the school could use a little more greenery.
Now the school has its own garden and an after-school gardening club.
It all began with PhotoCity, an effort by the City Heights-based AjA Project to help youth use photography to affect change. It was through the group’s assignments that students taking pictures of their environment began to focus on the lack of green space at school. They went to administrators with a plan for a community garden, which opened in September.
“Students decided to do the nature project because they do not see that many plants and flowers and pretty places around the neighborhood,” said Kassandra Elias, an eighth-grader who serves as the Garden Club coordinator. “I think that if we have a place where people can look at pretty plants, it would bring a sense of peace and happiness to them.”
PhotoCity students were helped by Kids Eco Club, a nonprofit started by a 9-year-old boy in 2010 to improve the environment. Monroe Clark is now home to a garden full of tomatoes, green peppers, Swiss chard, cauliflower, broccoli and eggplant. Garden Club participants are committed to weeding and watering the plants and to eat what they’ve grown in a farm-to-table party later this year.
Students in The AjA Project’s PhotoCity club also addressed a lack of art and creative space on campus. They’re now working on a proposal to create an art wall on campus.
This story originally appeared in City Heights Life.