Raised funds will be used to encompass our community garden with a 6ft black steel fence with two gated entrances. The fencing will be used to aesthetically tie in the community garden to the rest of the campus' architectural design. Access hours to the community garden will mirror those of our school based public library; gates will be locked/unlocked accordingly to ensure the integrity of the garden is maintained.  By shielding our garden from potential vandalism, we will ensure the our goals of our community garden (connect our campus and community via nature, engage our students with real world learning and inform students, staff and community about the healthy benefits of gardening) can continue year after year. 

            Our community garden will be used to further connect Roosevelt HS and area community members especially our retired and military members. The garden will provide motivation for our staff, students and community members to get outside and be active in nature. The garden will have wheelchair accessible paths inside as well as outside the garden to encourage visitors to move around and fully engage in the space; while, benches will provide observation spots that will facilitate discussions about sights, smells and experiences. Furthermore, the community garden will provide a venue for inter-generational collaboration as students and community members work together to maintain garden beds.

            In addition to connecting our campus with the community, two garden spaces will be used as outdoor classrooms for our students during the school day. In order for our students to compete in the 21st century, we must provide our students with real world, hands-on experiences in order to create genuine connections between what they learn in school and their own lives. Many students have limited personal experiences and the content they are learning seems disconnected and meaningless to them. In addition, distractions outside of school act to divert their attention away from daily learning goals. With that in mind, we must make connections between life and authentic learning.  We will use the outdoor classrooms to facilitate experiential, hands-on learning for all content areas. In math and science, classes will use the garden spaces to allow students to be more engaged in collecting, graphing and analyzing real data such as plants’ rates of growth, gas and food production. Students in biology will be able to use the garden to deepen their understanding through direct observation of abstract concepts, such as homeostasis, adaptations, symbiotic relationships etc. ELA students will make cross-curricular connections as they write expository and persuasive essays about their observations and experiences in the garden. In addition, the garden spaces will be used to increase the motivation and engagement in reading, especially among our ELL and struggling readers. Art classes will use the garden/outdoor classroom to increase their observations skills and to draw real-life nature sketches, such as scientific and botanical illustrations. Art students would also participate in service-learning activities such as learning about and creating mosaics, decorative sculptures, planters, or murals for the garden/outdoor classroom. ALE students may include gardening their life-skills curriculum to include how to care for plants.  

          Finally, our garden will be used to expose students and the community to first-hand experiences and knowledge on the mental and physical benefits of growing and eating fresh organic produce. Obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure are common in our community and personally affect many of our students directly or indirectly. To help educate our students and community, we will host community classes on urban gardening, cooking/canning, as well as the mental and physical benefits of gardening and eating fresh organic produce.

 ***Goal includes the 8% site fee (if we do not meet our goal) in addition to the 3% payment processing fee for each investment.