Garden ambassadors will take what they've learned to garden on Medical Lake high school campus next year
By RYAN LANCASTER
Staff Reporter
For the past couple of weeks a group of 15 Medical Lake students have opted out of the typical summer break routine.
Instead of getting up late to lounge about the house all day, these teens have been learning how to pilot a kayak, plant a seedling and cook fresh meals from local ingredients, along with many other activities.
“They've tried a lot of things they haven't tried before, from riding the bus to eating different kinds of foods and doing some backbreaking work in the garden,” organizer Laurie Morley said.
Last year Morley, an instructor in the College of Education and Human Development at Eastern Washington University, got together with Medical Lake High School health teacher Val Von Lehe to brainstorm a 1/3 acre garden at MLHS that could be used by various classes as well as the wider community, with public volunteer days, a farmer's market and possibly a concert amphitheater.
Von Lehe said the $25,000 remainder of a three-year physical education grant has so far funded the program, but she'd like to secure grants and local donations in order to reach a $60,000 goal. A Spokane-based architectural firm is now drawing up a design before dirt work begins on the garden next spring.
“It's not just going to be a garden,” Morley said. “If they wanted to just do raised beds you'd probably see something now. It's going to be designed as more of a community gathering place.”
With the help of a wide-ranging committee of teachers, school administrators, and community members, the duo devised the Summer Garden Ambassadors, a two week program that aims to sprout student leaders who will take the community garden idea and run with it, coming up with fresh ideas and enticing their peers to get involved.
Students have heard from guest speakers on a variety of topics, from sustainable living to Dutch oven cooking in the outdoors. They've taken field trips to Manito Park in Spokane, done some weeding at the PEACH Farm near Cheney and learned to make tortillas from scratch with Spokane Community College Culinary Arts instructor Peter Tobin.
The group of teens, ranging from seventh-graders to high-school aged students, has also formed a club from the program, the Medical Lake Garden Ambassadors, along with a name for the eventual upshot of their efforts – the Cardinal Community Courtyard Garden. The club has a Facebook page and is considering a regular newsletter to attract donations and more members over next school year.
Most in the group were surprised by how much they've learned through the experience.
“I just thought we were signing up to put up a community garden, I never thought we'd learn so much about the importance of organics and being part of the community and stuff,” club president Jessica Miller said.
Her fellow ambassador, Brooke Keister, said when she first opted in to the program she wasn't too excited at the prospect of getting up early, but it's been worth it. “I really have learned a lot about how important it is to eat healthy, to exercise, really do all you can to live better and keep things in the community,” she said. “It gives people a chance to be around each other and know each other a lot more.”
That, Von Lehe said, is the ultimate goal of all this. “I want these kids to take the lead and be a movement, to show what gardening can actually do for a community,” she said. She pointed to the group as they sat eating and laughing around a picnic table at Waterfront Park. “This is community right here and that's what I really want to see this do. I don't want them to say goodbye next Thursday, I want them to get together and continue this.”
For more information on this program or the community garden contact Von Lehe at 953-4816.
Ryan Lancaster can be reached at [email protected].
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