Nonprofit

Henderson School/Community Garden


About Us

ABOUT US:

Henderson Garden is a new addition to Henderson Independent High-an Alternative High School that serves all of Rowan County. Ninety percent of our students are considered low-income and at risk. One of our goals at Henderson is to engage students by making lessons hands on and practical to their lives. We also work to improve community involvement in our school in an effort to foster a positive perception of our students and to provide students with positive outlets outside of school.

In Jan 2013 we were awarded a grant from Seeds of Change based out of Seattle, WA to create raised beds for organic gardening. My vision for this project is to cultivate garden plots (vegetable, herb, and flower) and a compost area. These areas will serve as outdoor classrooms for lessons in the sciences (pH, nutrient cycling, food webs, etc.), mathematics (practical application of algebra and geometry to build arbors, trellises, etc.), and social studies (agricultural revolution). As such, students will not only learn how to grow their own food, they will also have the opportunity to interact with, and apply, many of their classroom lessons to real world problems.

I am also hoping to cultivate interest and interaction from the surrounding community in the form of volunteers. Volunteers would help to build/establish the gardens, act as garden mentors by interacting with the students and guiding the garden's progress, and/or act as liasions within different educational departments and help carry out garden related activities. At harvest time, I want make sure that those in the community who lack access to fresh food share in the yields of the garden (with the added hope that they will want to become active with it in some form).

NEEDED:

At the moment we are in phase two of building raised garden beds and need volunteers to help build wooden raised beds around the school (so we can expand our spring garden). We also have a hydroponics system and some greenhouse tables that need assembling. Workday for this is set for Sat. March 29, 2014 from 9AM-1PM at Henderson High at 1215 N. Main Street Salisbury, NC 28144.

In terms of planting and maintaining the gardening, I am always looking for volunteers to act as garden mentors to the students. These individuals will have to be cleared by the school system, but would work in the garden with me to help foster knowledge of, and passion for, gardening in my kiddos (students).

I am also looking for volunteers who would be interested in working with the Math department on applied math construction projects (trellises, arbors, tables, drying stands, etc.). I have funds to supply the materials (though donations are always welcome) and I have some basic tools. Volunteers with carpentry knowledge, skills, and/or tools are especially needed.

Volunteer hours are logged and I am happy to sign off on them, if needed, for resumes, applications, etc.

VOLUNTEERING/MY CONTACT:

If you are interested in volunteering in any of the above ways, please email me at kaminskicc@rss.k12.nc.us . I will respond with details of upcoming workdays. Water, snacks, tool, and materials are always provided on workdays-mostly we just need more helping hands.

Thank you for considering spending you time and effort on this project with us at Henderson.

Sincerely,

Cynthia Kaminski

Science Department

ABOUT US:

Henderson Garden is a new addition to Henderson Independent High-an Alternative High School that serves all of Rowan County. Ninety percent of our students are considered low-income and at risk. One of our goals at Henderson is to…

Issue Areas Include

Location

  • 1215 North Main Street, Salisbury, NC 28144, United States
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