Wildcat Blooms Garden
Grants Awarded
The Outdoor Education program promotes hands-on learning by engaging about 80 students in garden elective classes and offering Agricultural Internships for Middle School students, enhancing their environmental awareness. This initiative fosters community connections through collaboration with local gardens and provides a structured curriculum aligned with educational standards, ultimately empowering participants to make meaningful contributions to their community.
We have increased the number of Garden Elective classes from a single class of 20 students to 4 classes of 80 students. Students are outside for about 4 hours a week; in the 8 years of our Summer Agricultural Internship we have expanded from 5 students to 11 who work in the garden 4 hours each week for 10 weeks; this year we initiated a Weekend Agricultural Internship and had youth working in the garden for 3 hours on Saturdays. This program started 3 weeks before the schools officially opened.