GrowingGreat Partners with EcoLeaders
At GrowingGreat’s program at Leuzinger High School’s Environmental Careers Academy (ECA), spring has been a season of growth and leadership!
Delilah, Jocelyne, Alicia, Lizette, pictured above, partnered with the South Coast Chapter of the California Native Plant Society to grow 75 California Poppy seedlings which were distributed at their Earth Month events. The students planted the poppies from seed and cared for them over five weeks, before delivering them to the Native Plant Society.
This poppy project is one example of ECA juniors’ work to pursue National Wildlife Federation EcoLeader Certification through project-based learning. This certification recognizes and brings national attention to students and young professionals who have completed projects related to sustainability and the environment.
GrowingGreat, a non-profit supported by además, has led hands-on garden programs at ECA since 2018. Throughout this spring, GrowingGreat partnered with students as they developed and implemented their EcoLeader Certification projects.
Xavier and Julian developed a plan for upcycling unused skateboards into small garden beds. They constructed two prototype raised beds. During GrowingGreat activities, freshman and sophomore students assisted in planting a variety of herbs and flowers and installing solar powered irrigation in the new upcycled raised beds. The garden beds have been a wonderful addition to the ECA garden and will become the permanent home for an expanded succulent garden later this spring.
Delilah and Jocelyne also organized Eco Pop, an event where all the EcoLeader Certification project groups created games to engage audiences in learning more about the issues their projects address. This event was a huge success, engaging more than 50 non-ECA students on topics ranging from the importance of native habitats to proper methods for sorting recycling.
How to Help:
Interested in building your own upcycled garden beds? Check out the resources below:
https://offgridworld.com/build-raised-garden-beds-out-of-almost-anything/
https://bootsandhooveshomestead.com/creative-upcycled-planter-ideas/
Want to learn more about cultivating native pollinator habitats? Check out these buzzy ideas:
https://www.cnps.org/gardening/california-native-plant-garden-style-31496
Donate to GrowingGreat here:
Meghan Nealon is the STEM Program Director at Los Angeles nonprofit GrowingGreat where she develops and leads teen programs. She also writes and teaches GrowingGreat’s hands-on STEM, nutrition and garden activities for PreK-12 students, teachers and caregivers. She is a representative with the Los Angeles Food Policy Council’s “Farm to School” Working Group and Co-Leads the School Garden Support Organization’s Middle/High School Peer Learning Community. GrowingGreat’s mission is to empower children to make healthy food choices through hands-on science and garden education. For more information, please email info@growinggreat.org.
