"I came to this garden in 7th grade knowing absolutely nothing," says Taven Gryziec, 8th grader at La Colina Jr. High School.
But after a year, Taven Gryziec knows a lot.
"This is full of Calendula, this is a Cherimoya tree, and this is an orange tree. It's not doing so well. I think we waited too long to pick the fruit," Gryziec said.
The garden is a popular place for middle schoolers to hang out.
"During lunch, around 12 or 13 people or so will come and then after school, like four people," Gryziec explained.
Learning to garden, compost, and identify plants isn’t the only thing Gryziec has picked up.
"I feel like you have to be careful with plants like you have to be careful with people," Gryziec said.
The idea for a learning garden sprouted three years ago to ease students back into the routine of in-person education.
"When we came back from Covid, students really struggled to be in the classroom," explained Maureen Granger, teacher at La Colina.
So teachers brought the classroom outside.
"Students have really enjoyed the opportunity to be able to come out into nature, to be able to learn, to be able to apply what they're learning in the classroom to the garden," Granger said.
The La Colina garden is just one part of the school's sustainability initiative, explains Principal Jennifer Foster.
"Turning off lights, picking up litter, trying to reduce our use of single-use plastics with our cafeteria and just making our students also more aware of that, because it's really what part of the skills they need to have to be global citizens," Foster said.
The school's steps toward a greener future earned a silver-level Green Ribbon Award from the California Department of Education earlier this month.
