Hines Middle School students hope to eat their homework

Posted: September 16, 2022

Students at Hines Middle School hope to harvest ingredients for salads and salsa from the garden of vegetables and herbs they planted in and outside their English and science classes.

The garden is an interdisciplinary project funded with a grant from the Virginia Cooperative Extension’s Eat Smart, Move More initiative. The grant is intended to give students experience growing healthy food and being active participants in nature.

Teresa Redden, who teaches physical science, and Joan Rodriguez, who teaches English, have collaborated before on environmental literacy projects and hoped to build on their earlier success establishing a wildlife-certified native plant garden on the school's grounds.

Through their partnership with Alison DeWitt, a Newport News Master Gardener, they connected with Extension Agent Kelsey Kennedy, who presented them with the grant. Ms. Kennedy shared recipes to help students create healthy snacks for a future harvest celebration.

The classes will record and compare germination rates, preferred growing environment conditions and yield time between the indoor and outdoor plantings. Local master gardeners provided starter plants for some items, while others were started from seed. The students are growing cool weather crops including lettuce, kale, arugula, herbs, and onions.

Students at Hines Middle School are growing fall crops inside and outside their English and Science classrooms.
Students at Hines Middle School are growing fall crops inside and outside their English and Science classrooms.
Some crops are being grown in growbags outside their classroom.
Some crops are being grown in growbags outside their classroom.
For many students, this is their first experience with gardening of any kind, and their teachers say that they are thrilled and excited to see the transformation as their plants grow.
For many students, this is their first experience with gardening of any kind, and their teachers say that they are thrilled and excited to see the transformation as their plants grow.