Garden Educators Make an Impact in OKC
OKC Harvest is OKC Beautiful’s school garden program. OKC Beautiful discovered that school gardens most often succeed where there is a dedicated gardener in charge of maintenance who also coordinates with teachers to provide hands-on lessons to students. Thanks to a capacity-building grant from Sprouts, OKC Beautiful was able to launch a garden educator pilot program to demonstrate this model at two carefully chosen elementary schools. School garden lessons are focused on exposing children to science and math, language arts, and social studies within the contest of a natural environment where they grow, harvest, and eat healthy foods. Already the results are compelling. One teachers says of the garden program, “It makes them so happy to see that something they planted can provide food for everyone. They become connected to our community. It is an experience they will remember the rest of their lives.”