Foundations in Gardening at LCC

Written by Jennifer Bass, Environmental Education Coordinator

This year, Larch Corrections Center introduced the Foundations in Gardening curriculum to High School+ (HS+) students in partnership with the Sustainability in Prisons Project and Clark College. This is the first time SPP’s education materials are being used for HS+ students! HS+ is a flexible alternative to the GED for students where students can use life experience and prior learning to earn their high school diploma. LCC’s class is led by Clark College Instructor Lauren Zavrel and 2 peer-facilitators. 

LCC students taking notes for their gardening class. Photo by Emily Passarelli.

The gardening class includes both a hands-on component in the garden as well as regular classroom seminars and assignments. In the late fall, the gardeners at LCC developed a planting plan and sowed leek, Brussel sprouts, red clover, and onion seeds.  

LCC’s garden area has been sowed with tons of vegetables. Photo by Emily Passarelli.

Combined, the LCC gardeners will spend more than one hundred hours studying course material, working in the garden, completing assignments, and participating in seminars! The class and work wouldn’t be possible without the peer-facilitators, facility liaison, and partners at Clark College.  

Gardeners work at LCC to prepare the beds for planting. Photo by Lauren Zavrel.

To help the SPP continue providing education in Washington prisons, click here.

 

 

 

 

1 Comment:

  1. Herbert Browne

    THIS is a wonderful addition to the educational opportunities of people who start out “behind the 8-ball” early in life… & the physical & emotional satisfaction that can be a result of programs like this are really incalculable.. but Very real!

    I wish that my daughter had had the opportunity to pursue a program like this, when she begged me to let her drop out of school & just take the GED so she could get away from the social restrictions of high school life. She loves the natural world, and is now a big fan of organic gardening. This program would have helped her avoid some bad decisions she made, mostly out of frustration with her situation. ^..^

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