Seeds for Schools Winner #9 - Milpitas High School

Milpitas High School
Milpitas, CA
# of Students: 2,945
Gardening Since: 2012

The winning school with the largest enrollment this year in our Seeds for Schools program is Milpitas High School located in Milpitas, CA. With a 9th grade to 12th grade enrollment of 2,945 students, Milpitas High is just starting their school’s gardening program.

Their decision to start a school garden was made to reclaim a part of the campus that had been used to store junk and trash and create a garden where their special education students could get exercise, and learn skills for recreation.

“This garden would be a boon to [our students] in terms of learning social skills,: said Dave Sorenson a faculty member at the school and the submitter of the application.

Seeds for Schools Winner #7 - Almaden Country School

Almaden Country School
San Jose, CA
# of Students: 420

San Jose, CA is represented for the second time in our Seeds for School program this year with Pre K through 8th grade recipient, Almaden Country School.

Barbara DeMoss, fairly new to the school, is the science teacher and resident gardener as well as the submitter of Almaden’s application to our porgram. Almaden, boasts a garden 60 feet by 100 feet and Ms. DeMoss’s plan is to incorporate the garden into the science department and make it an outdoor classroom.

“This fall the children and I weeded and planted pumpkins, watermelons, beans, carrots and radishes,” said Ms. DeMoss. “We have lots of plans for the spring.”

Ms. DeMoss’s plan for the seeds is to expand their school’s garden and use that as a teaching tool to connect the students to the outdoors through science class and lunchtime learning programs.