Third Ward middle and high school students are adding an educational garden to their campus while strengthening their brains and minds.
What used to be a barely visible concrete slab and empty yard next to the Young Women's College Preparatory Academy is now an outdoor research facility called the Green Mountain Energy Sun Club's Mural Creativity and Innovation Lab.
The garden has 17 flower beds of various sizes planted with broccoli, carrots, cabbage and kale in compost bins.
Engineering and computer science teacher Asta Zeno said she wanted to use the garden to address food insecurity in the school's geographic area because the Young Women's College Preparatory Academy is on the edge of a food desert, meaning access to affordable, fresh food is limited. . food
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Zeno said he wants to create more access to fresh produce and is working with counties on plans on how to do that.
He also said the new projects go hand in hand with the United Nations' sustainable goals, including zero hunger and quality education.
Maya Salazar, a 12th-grader, said she's excited to have a new location.
"I love space, especially working in nature," says Salazar.
He is confident that the workplace will spark new ideas at the school and is already envisioning ways to complete the environmental projects he is working on. Salazar built a living wall outside the school covered in moss and said the moss wall can reduce air and noise pollution.
The outdoor study room has a solar power station where students can charge their devices. It has two tables with benches and a canopy equipped with solar panels that can provide 54 watts of power or 16 hours of energy.
The Green Mountain Energy Sun Club Living Mural Creativity and Innovation Lab is included in the classroom curriculum.
Engineering, science and environmental studies classes will explore native plants and how to care for them, Zeno said. He says horticulture involves a lot of science, engineering and math.
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“I had to be a non-traditional engineering and computer science teacher because we have a fashion show every year. As part of our show, we are going to dye some clothes with plants," he said.
The classroom will grow daffodils to dye the cloth gold, and Zeno hopes the beets will produce brown dye to make their school color.
The plants in the garden are watered by rainwater that collects water from the roof of the school, which can then be used for planting, which is more beneficial to the plants than using treated water.
Awarded a $50,000 grant to Houston Audience, an educational nonprofit, to establish the Living Mural Creativity and Innovation Lab. Funding is provided by the Sun Club, a nonprofit organization of Green Mountain Energy.
The Sun Club was founded by renewable energy company Green Mountain Energy to promote sustainable initiatives and programs in the communities they serve.
"There are all these places, so you think, 'What can we do about it?'" said Johnny Richardson, project manager for Green Mountain Energy.
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Richardson said sustainability is a subject that needs to be included in the curriculum because of the pressing impact of climate change.
"Sometimes, when you go to class, the textbook is not enough. You have to live and breathe it,” Richardson said. These are things that can become life skills.
