Success Blooms at the Renaissance Garden Project

A program at U.C.S.C. called Education for Sustainable Living Program (ESLP) decided to come to our “rescue.” U.C.S.C. students started coming to our school looking at our field and brought us soil, compost, seeds and work material. Local people and businesses donated most of our supplies. U.C.S.C students were awarded a grant of $10,000 from the Donald A. Strauss Foundation to construct the garden and provide nutritional and health education centered around our project.

Since April 2007, students have been staying after school to help in the garden and do projects connecting to the garden. Trisha Casillas says, “ I want to help our school succeed in our garden project in any way I can, even if that means staying after school.”

We had a Heath Day on May 30, 2007, thanks to our A.S.B (Student Government) students who wrote a grant to United Way. We were awarded a $1,000 grant. Jessica Vargas tells us how Health Day has improved her eating habits, “I never realized how much smaller organic food is because it has no pesticides, and how what I eat affects the way I think and how my body works.” So overall, Health Day and our Garden Project have been a great success.