Seeds for Schools: Winner #5 - Allen at Steinbeck K - 8

Allen at Steinbeck K through 8

San Jose, CA

# of students: 800 to 900

Gardening Program Started: 2006

San Jose is well represented this year in our Seeds for Schools program. Allen at Steinbeck is 1 of 2 schools chosen from the San Jose area (we will talk about the other San Jose winner, later in the week).

Allen at Steinbeck is a large urban area school catering to the Kindergarten through 8th grade student body. Their gardening program was started 6 years ago when they moved into their new building and includes 8 beds where they have been growing plenty of herbs, veggies and pumpkins.

"We work with each grade to get kids into the garden going through the entire planning, weeding and harvesting process," says Shawn Shahin, a teach at the school and submitter (along with Kristen Corpuz) of the application. "The pumpkins we grow are used each year to decorate our school."

Allen at Steinbeck plans on using the seeds they will receive as a means to teach more indoor gardening, starting seeds indoors and of course to get more kids gardening. They would like to use "garden time" as a positive reward for their students.

Seeds for Schools: Winner #4 - Bullard Elementary School

Bullard Elementary School
Kennesaw, GA
# of Students: 1,000
Gardening Program Started: 2010

The mission of our 4th winner in our Seeds for Schools program, Bullard Elementary, in partnership with family members and their community, is to provide a foundation which fosters integrity and lifelong learning while developing responsible, productive members of society.

Who can argue? The Kennesaw, GA based elementary school which caters to K through 5th, just recently won an award from "Keep Georgia Beautiful" for the creation of their school garden.

"We try to incorporate the support of the community, scouts, students and parents, and our active PTSA," said Lorelle LoCurto, the submitter of the schools application to the seeds program. "Having the opportunity for all children to have such hands on learning would be valuable."

Bullard Elementary, which was just recently featured in the Duluth weekly for winning this program, has big plans for the seeds they will receive. They are going to implement GA science into their K through 5 curriculum to give the students a better hands on experience.

Seeds for Schools: Winner #3 - Allenbrook Elementary

Allenbrook Elementary School

Charlotte, NC

# of Students 422

Gardening Program: Brand New

Located in Charlotte, NC, about 10 minutes from the bustling downtown area, and boasting a student body of 422, Allenbrook Elementary school is our Seeds for Schools program's 3rd out 10 winner.

Their gardening program is new for 2012 and was initiated after Tina Cataldo (the school's recycling coordinator, and application submitter) decided it was time to expand the school's environmental program after they had already began teaching the students composting techniques with the help of Senior Environmental Specialist, Nadine Ford.

"We are hoping that the gardening project will extend from a learning experience to a useful community garden for the families who live within the Allenbrook Elementary school community," says Ms. Cataldo. "Our hope is to establish the garden and involve family members who will contribute efforts to maintain the garden over the summer months (as well as during the school year) and be able to reap the benefits of the garden for their families."

To accommodate their new gardening program for the students, Allenbrook is building four raised beds, which will be plenty of room to teach the students (and families) how to grow fresh, vegetables, fruits and herbs from the seeds they will receive.

Seeds for Schools: Winner #2 - Blackwell Elementary

Blackwell Elementary School

Marietta, GA

# of Students: 700

Gardening Program: Since 2011

Blackwell Elementary school is located in Marietta, GA and was founded 80 years ago. Their gardening program is fairly new, started only last year, by many novice but passionate teachers who were inspired by their assistant principal, Pam Roach, after she started the program.

"Our teachers finance so much of their classroom needs as well as the needs of our new gardening program," said Lisa King, a counselor at Blackwell as well as the person who submitted the application to our Seeds for Schools program. "This subscription is going to greatly improve the gardening program here."

Ms. King says she is excited about what gardening brings to the school, her own life and sees how the growth of the garden is leading the students to their own growth. Ms. King uses the school garden as means to teach the students goal setting as well as a means to establish "eco-therapy" groups at Blackwell.

Seeds for Schools: Winner #1 - Ravenna High School

Over the course of the next 10 days, we are going to feature our 10 winners from our recent Seeds for Schools campaign. All winners were chosen from hundreds of applications submitted during our open enrollment period for the program and will receive a 3 year membership to Mike the Gardener's Seeds of the Month Club.

The choices were tough as there were so many schools that were excellent candidates. We wanted to feature each winner daily to give you a better idea of who they are and the gardening programs they use to teach the children in their schools.

Ravenna High School

Ravenna, Michigan

# of Students: 280

Gardening Program: Since 2001

Ravenna High School is located in Ravenna, Michigan which is about 3 and half hours west of Detroit. At 100 years old, Ravenna is committed to a quality and rigorous education that enables their students to be prepared for the challenges that they will face in the 21st century.

Ravenna's application was submitted by Melanie Block who has been teaching agricultural science since 2000. Their school garden was started in 2001 with the construction of their greenhouse.

Ms. Block's philosophy is hands on teaching when it comes to plant science and the school garden gives her and her students just that. And who can argue? She has been named Michigan Agriscience teacher of the year ... twice!

In 2000, Ravenna's agricultural program had only 22 students and today that number hovers near 200 which is nearly the entire student body!

"When I told the students we had been chosen as one of the winner's, a big cheer went out throughout the class," said Ms. Block. Now, Ravenna's students are eager to plant some seeds and get their hands dirty.