Our collaborative effort between schools to improve academic and social development and to inspire environmental stewardship. The two schools continue to create intimate connections as one community.
Leader
Victoria O'Neill
Location
231-02 67th avenue Oakland Gardens, NY 11364
We are 2 public schools located in Bayside, New York City. Our collaboration is among students with special needs and general education population. Our 2 schools include children from all parts of the world and various parts of New York City.
Our garden is not only an authentic hands-on experience for our students, it also serves as a bridge between 2 schools. Sowing both special needs and general education students, our collaboration has grown from planting few seeds to building life long relationships.
With your donations we will be able to continue our collaboration, building upon our vision of providing the children with an indoor and outdoor garden that encourages all students to have respect for living things as well as people of diverse backgrounds. We will continue to work on creating a garden that inspires hands-on involvement and the importance of spending time with nature. As part of our ongoing quest to be environmentally responsible we would like to use recycled biodegradable containers, and create our own compost. Our indoor garden will be set up and utilized during the winter months to engage students in the fundamentals of gardening and provide them with an understanding of the importance of plants. In the spring, our indoor vegetation will be transplanted to the outdoor garden, cared for and harvested by the students and the community.
Once we have raised funds we will expand our indoor and outdoor garden.
In order to begin the expansion we will need to acquire garden supplies such as soil, mulch, seeds and filters. We will also need tools, a shed, and a composting system.
First, we will begin growing sprouts and seedling in 4 indoor garden classrooms. Next, we will introduce hydroponic gardening to the students and build wick and air filter systems.
Then, we will prepare our outdoor garden and transplant seedlings as well as plant additional seeds.
Finally, we will build an outdoor vertical garden and maintain all plants and prepare for harvesting.
Having a community garden serves multiple needs. The Seeds of Friendship Garden changed the relationship between two schools. The schools have lived in the same building for many years as strangers. However, since the collaboration of the garden we have finally taken notice of one another and turned into one community. The garden has provided opportunities for inner city children to learn how to plant through hands-on experiences and to develop an understanding and appreciation for hard work in which they can visually see the end result. In addition, in our society it is more expensive to eat healthy and the preparation that goes into cooking healthy food usually takes longer than going through a drive through window. Through the garden we are educating the students on the importance of healthy choices and allowing them to bring those choices to fruition by reaping the benefits. We have already set the foundation for our garden to thrive, however without additional support our garden will not blossom to it’s full potential.