A garden at Sidney Lanier School is doing more than just growing flowers and produce. It’s teaching students valuable life skills.
Most weekdays, weather permitting, students in Lanier’s Transition to Life Program can be found tending the garden – located on the southeast corner of the school’s campus – under the guidance and support of teacher Glorida Valladares and other Lanier staff members, as well as some local volunteers. The students plant, water, prune and ultimately harvest a wide range of fruits and vegetables throughout the year.
According to an Alachua County Public Schools (ACPS) press release, much of the produce grown by the students is prepared and served in the Lanier cafeteria. Students also learn how to mix, juice, cook, or otherwise prepare the produce for their own use.
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Some of the harvest is shared with Lanier families and staff, and, at times, a small amount of the produce is even shared with the community.
“People will stop by and compliment the students on the garden, and we’re able to give them something,” Valladares said in the release.
For 20-year-old Chris Sherrod, the experience is a rewarding one.
“I like to harvest,” Sherrod said while taking a break from gathering ripe strawberries. “It makes me and my teacher feel proud that I grew something in the garden.”
In addition to the plants, Valladares said her students are also blossoming in the garden. Some students who are usually non-verbal are expressing themselves more, and students who once sat on the sidelines now actively participate. The garden has also become an effective positive reinforcement tool at Lanier, which serves kindergarten through 12th-grade students with special needs.
“The garden helps them develop not just life skills, but also fine motor skills and just the mental health benefits of being outside in nature and balancing their equilibrium,” Valladares said. “They’re also learning patience. What better way to learn patience than gardening?”
According to the release, Lanier has received support from a range of sources to establish, expand and maintain the garden. This includes a state grant and a recent Whole Foods Kids Garden grant.
Members of the local Master Gardener Program also volunteer regularly in the garden, including Mark Zadra.
“Lanier has the best garden of all the schools that I visit,” Zadra said in the release.
Valladares said the support of such partners is critical to the garden’s continued success.
“We wouldn’t be able to do this without them,” she said. “It takes a village, and we’ve been blessed with help from many people.”
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