CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. – A simple garden can teach a lot of complex lessons.
In Christiansburg, a sixth grade class is learning how to help those who struggle with food insecurity.
“It’s really cool to see how everything grows and sprouts,” said Jared Ridge, a 6th grade student.
At Christiansburg Middle School, kids in the careers investigation class are learning the lessons and skills of gardening and giving back to the community.
“We were talking about some things the community needed, and we sat there, and we know that some of our community members are lacking in fresh produce,” said Kristie Nesbit, CTE Teacher. “We try to talk about giving back to the community because like the community does stuff for us. Being able to help them is really important to instill in our kids at a young age.”
Two students who have been helping to take care of the garden tell me there is a big variety of vegetables in their small garden.
“We helped fill one of the boxes with soil and a couple of weeks later we put a tomato in there,” Ridge said.
“Our class planted the tomatoes, but we also planted some okra, kale, carrots, spinach, lettuce and some arugula,” said Millie Hendricks, a 6th grader.
Over the summer, the Boys and Girls Club with the school will help take care of the plants. Once its ready for harvest, they will be available to anyone who needs fresh produce.
“That’s the really important part of actually having them get out there and actually doing things,” Nesbit said.
“It’s nice to be able to help the community and plant some plants for them,” Hendricks added.
For Nesbit, she said teaching kids skills like this can open up their minds to countless possibilities and teaches them to take care of their community.
Nesbit said the goal now is to continue this program for more years and expand it so more students can get involved.
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