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Veggies to Jamaica!

Learning through growing: Help us build a vegetable and flower garden for Queens Collegiate students.

 

Leader

Shelley Berlincourt

Location

16701 Gothic Drive Jamaica, NY 11432

About the project

Queens Collegiate (at what was formerly Jamaica High School) has a staff of dedicated teachers who are eager to have a school garden to use as a teaching tool.  Several classes have been enrolled in Solar One's Green Design Lab and have assisted in assessing the potential garden site and planning the layout.

By designing the garden to have cold frames for winter months, the garden will provide learning opportunities throughout the year.  By working in and visiting the garden throughout the year, students will see scientific concepts demonstrated in the real world.  Most of the seeds will be vegetables, which can hopefully be incorporated into the school lunch program, providing much-needed produce.  And what could be a more local source than the school grounds?

Four teachers have expressed keen interest in being involved with the garden and the head custodian has agreed to water and care for the garden during the summer months.  The principal and other staff are looking forward to having a garden available for Queens Collegiate students to use.

The Steps

Students have already assisted in surveying the site while working with an educator from Solar One.

After purchasing supplies, students will use string to plot out where beds will be placed

Students will make signs for the garden and decorate the bed frames. 

On a workday which parents and students are encouraged to attend, we will assemble the wooden borders for the beds, fill them with soil and plant seeds.

Why we‘re doing it

Queens Collegiate could benefit greatly from having a school garden to demonstrate scientific concepts learned in the classroom.  Constructing cold frames over the plants will allow for year-round opportunities and raising vegetables may introduce much-needed local produce into the school lunch program.  The custodial staff has no budget for maintaining the grounds in this way so we are fundraising to make the garden a reality.

 

$45.00 / $45.00