Why do these students look so happy and eager to learn? Maybe it is because they are in their favorite spot -- the garden at their school. Since last year Seatack Elementary: An Achievable Dream Academy in Virginia Beach, Virginia has offered
hands-on learning about plants, the environment and healthy eating.
Last year Seatack's gifted resource teacher Marie Culver pioneered
an organic community garden at the Title 1 school where 90 percent of its 388 students receive
free or reduced-price lunches because they live in lower-income families.
Recently a $1,000 grant from the Future Leadership Partners, a Hampton Roads Community Foundation giving group, helped
expand the program for this school year. The grant went to the Virginia Beach Education Foundation to support Seatack's garden. The education foundation
provided funding last year to seed the garden.
"The new grant gives us money for another raised bed for each
grade level," Culver says. "We will have more space and can grow a
greater variety of plants." The grant will also pay for compost pails,
blueberry bushes and other garden supplies.
Culver reports that last year, students learned a lot from the melons, radishes, basil, beans, peppers, tomatoes and other food they grew.
Gardening enhanced their science and environmental studies and taught children discipline, teamwork and patience.
Many Seatack students live in areas too dangerous for them to play outside. Many have little connection to nature. The garden has helped them enjoy working in the dirt, seeing seedlings grow, watering and weeding their gardens, and harvesting and eating the bounty.
Seatack's young gardeners come from all grade levels and get to witness first-hand the life cycle of plants they nurture. Science classes often take place in the garden, and students have treated their parents to healthful salads made with produce they grew, picked and turned into delicious dishes.
A group of high-energy Seatack fifth-grade boys (pictured below) work in the garden each morning before school as part of the Garden Breakfast Club. They enter class focused and ready to learn, Culver reports.
"The boys say the favorite part of their day is being in the garden because it is so peaceful," Culver says.
Virginia Beach Education Foundation was among 21 nonprofits receiving a total of $216,000 in grants this year from two Hampton Roads Community Foundation giving groups -- the Community Leadership Partners and the Future Leadership Partners. Click here for details.
Culver reports that last year, students learned a lot from the melons, radishes, basil, beans, peppers, tomatoes and other food they grew.
Gardening enhanced their science and environmental studies and taught children discipline, teamwork and patience.
Many Seatack students live in areas too dangerous for them to play outside. Many have little connection to nature. The garden has helped them enjoy working in the dirt, seeing seedlings grow, watering and weeding their gardens, and harvesting and eating the bounty.
Seatack's young gardeners come from all grade levels and get to witness first-hand the life cycle of plants they nurture. Science classes often take place in the garden, and students have treated their parents to healthful salads made with produce they grew, picked and turned into delicious dishes.
A group of high-energy Seatack fifth-grade boys (pictured below) work in the garden each morning before school as part of the Garden Breakfast Club. They enter class focused and ready to learn, Culver reports.
"The boys say the favorite part of their day is being in the garden because it is so peaceful," Culver says.
Virginia Beach Education Foundation was among 21 nonprofits receiving a total of $216,000 in grants this year from two Hampton Roads Community Foundation giving groups -- the Community Leadership Partners and the Future Leadership Partners. Click here for details.
Photos courtesy of Marie Culver and the Virginia Beach Education Foundation
(The Hampton Roads Community Foundation is a regional community foundation started in 1950 as the first community foundation in Virginia. It is among nearly 750 community foundation around the country serving specific geographic regions. It is the largest grant and scholarship provider in southeastern Virginia and manages more than 400 charitable funds created by donors from all walks of life. Over the decades it has provided more than $195 million to improve life for residents living in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, including the cities of Chesapeake, Franklin, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Smithfield, Suffolk and Virginia Beach. It also serves people in Isle of Wight and Southampton counties and the Eastern Shore of Virginia, including Accomack and Northampton counties. Learn more at hamptonroadscf.org. You can click here to locate a community foundation near you. )
