Ten teachers participating in the LSU AgCenter school gardening program received awards for completing the first year of the project. The awards were presented during a half-day gardening workshop at the LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens at Burden on July 29. Front row: Elizabeth Norwood, Central Middle School, Central; Michelle Grantham, Villa del Rey Elementary, Baton Rouge; Lanya Mayer, Bains Lower Elementary, St. Francisville; Ivy Jones, Martin Luther King Christian Jr. Academy, Baton Rouge; Second row: Casey Maryman, Bains Elementary, St. Francisville; Maddi Aguillard, Fenton Elementary, Fenton; Diana Hammond, Villa del Rey, Baton Rouge; Ellen LeBlanc, MSA-East Academy, St. Gabriel; Maisa Shelmire, Baton Rouge Juvenile Detention Center; and Ronald Grace, East Iberville Elementary, St. Gabriel. (Photo by Johnny Morgan, LSU AgCenter)

BATON ROUGE, La. – Teachers who started gardens at their schools last year were recognized for their progress at a half-day workshop on July 29 at the LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens at Burden.

Ten south Louisiana schools were awarded grants last summer to implement gardens at their schools, said AgCenter gardening specialist Kiki Fontenot. The teachers returned for the workshop to learn how to continue the gardens without the financial backing of the AgCenter and to receive trophies as congratulations on being an excellent school gardener.

At the workshop, each teacher gave a progress report on their project and recommendations for what can be done to make the gardens better this year, Fontenot said.

The schools involved in the program included five in East Baton Rouge Parish, two in Iberville Parish, two in West Feliciana Parish and one in Jefferson Davis Parish. The sponsors included the Pennington Family Foundation, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana, East Iberville School Group and the Albemarle Foundation.

“The AgCenter was awarded the grants from four area corporations to generate the needed funds for training and provide the tools the schools would need to be successful,” Fontenot said.

Lanya Mayer, a physical education coach at Bains Lower Elementary School in West Feliciana Parish, had kindergarteners and first graders working in her garden. She said it has been a great success.

“With the help of AgCenter agents Layne Langley and André Brock, we had a very successful garden,” Mayer said. “The students sustained the garden themselves with guidance. The best thing is they loved to eat the food, and they tried new things because they grew it.”

The students loved the time outside, Mayer said. They worked on counting, measuring, teamwork, sharing and physical activity.

“We did 10 jumping jacks, then you would go plant a seed. You do 10 sit ups, and then you could go water,” Mayer said.

Brock works with three of the four schools in the parish, visiting each once a week. Langley provides nutrition information, and the students eat what they grow.

To get the project started last summer, corporate sponsors provided $1,000 for each school to purchase supplies, $100 stipends for the teachers to attend the workshop and $50 to cover the LSU AgCenter agent’s travel to the workshop.

“We tried to give them everything they needed to build and maintain their gardens for a year and a half,” Fontenot said.

Each teacher left last year’s workshop with enough materials for three raised beds. They also received seed, soaker hoses, potting soil, fertilizer and two curriculum books.

Fontenot said she hopes to receive additional corporate sponsorships to bring in another group of teachers to begin their school gardens.

Johnny Morgan