UAPB project teaches gardening to students at Pine Bluff schools

A gardening program aims to give Pine Bluff students a new appreciation for where vegetables come from.

The University of Arkansas School of Agriculture, Fishing, and Humanities at Pine Bluff has partnered with Pine Bluff Schools to teach K-12 students about growing vegetables.

Students at Forrest Park / Greenville Pre-K, Jack Robey High School, Pine Bluff Lighthouse Charter School, and Pine Bluff High School have already got their hands dirty planting a variety of healthy vegetables they ‘they will harvest soon.

Karleah Harris, Assistant Professor in the Humanities Department at UAPB, initiated the project and is working with principals and teachers in each school.

Raised beds have been set up in each of the four schools, and the participating children and youth have already been busy planting vegetables such as lettuce, tomatoes, cabbage and peppers.

“The gardens give students the opportunity to engage in inquiry-based learning and a platform to connect what they learn in the classroom to the environment and to real life,” she said. “Students need to know where their food comes from, learn to eat healthy and participate in the process of planting, growing and harvesting. “

Harris plans to expand the program using a grant of $ 349,442 from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture to UAPB and the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.

The collaborative grant is titled “Healthy People Healthy Planet: A Food Desert Program at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and Fayetteville, AR” (proposal number 2020-11200 / award number 2021-38821-34712.)

The grant was developed in partnership with Kieu Le of UA-Fayetteville, as well as Janette Wheat, Felicia Taylor Waller and Nicholas Romano, co-principal investigators at UAPB.

The project will support the development of programs for pre-K-12 level programs in Arkansas to teach students how to grow their own vegetables, cook nutritious foods, and live healthy lives. It will strengthen the capacity of the two universities to partner in food deserts, communities in which people have limited access to affordable and nutritious food, especially fresh vegetables and fruits.

Will Hehemann is the Extension Communications Specialist at the University of Arkansas at the Pine Bluff School of Agriculture, Fisheries and Human Sciences.