Earth Day: City’s cleanup and new garden

The sun shone on the flats of land cleared, seeds sown in them, as students dug up more earth for an herb and vegetable garden fifth and sixth hour on Tuesday to observe Earth Day at City High.

“I decided to help plant this garden because I wanted to help my Mother Earth feel better,” Cornell Stringer ‘15  said.

The seeds for the garden were ordered by Eli Shepherd ’14 last week, and they have since been planted. The students are now working on the planting of the growing tables, adjacent to the garden. Harvesting will begin later this year. The plants will be transferred next semester into the greenhouse near Mr. Koepnick’s room.

“We’ll start getting some [vegetables and herbs] here this Spring, and in the Summer, I’ll come out and check on the beds,” Tom Braverman, Special Educator at City High, said. When the vegetables are ready to be harvested, Braverman and others involved in the garden will donate them to the Crisis Center Food Bank, DVIP, and Shelter House.”

In this way, the garden is benefiting both a people and a world in need.

“I think it’s important for students to see how food can be grown and how it can also be useful,” Jamie Tha, Special Educator at City, said. “It’s going to be a beautiful garden but it’ll also be very useful with the vegetables and herbs that we grow. [The students] can see that happening and they’ll be a part of it.”

The planting of the garden advocates for action, as well as how Earth Day is just the basis of many reactions.

Further action for Earth Day took place after school on Tuesday, as members of Interact Club picked up garbage around the parking lots and Bates Field.

“I think it’s crucial to realize what we can do for the environment,” Tha said. “There’s so many things that we talk about not to do, but this is a day where we can learn how to help the environment better.”