TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Young gardeners at Manzo Elementary School in Tucson are getting their hands dirty—literally—with a gardening program that will eventually benefit more than 40 schools.
With the support of a $100,000 grant from the Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation, Manzo's garden and ecology program spent the morning on Wednesday, Oct. 19 preparing hundreds of starter plants that will be distributed to other Tucson Unified School District campuses.
"Sprouts has been a great community partner to us and I feel like when you have big dreams, big dreams take big partnerships," said Moses Thompson, director off the school's garden workshop.
Thompson said the program has a network of greenhouses, and with the support from the grant, students can grow thousands of seedlings at a time to distribute to different schools.
Manzo Elementary focuses on project-based and hands-on learning through its ecology program, which includes a greenhouse, animal habitat with chickens and of course the garden. The school's website says it's programs like this that helps students "become critical thinkers, problem solvers and lifelong learners."
Thompson says the school's educators all schedule time to incorporate the garden program into their curricula, and math, science and language arts programs all benefit from time spent outside.
He also says that programs that allow kids to get outside have been great for students' mental health after the return to in-person learning.
"I've got two kids at home. I've got a 4-year-old and a 7-year-old. And its a constant battle to keep them off of the screen. Off of the tablet. Off of Netflix. Off the video games," Thompson said. "There's something really magical that happens when you get a kid outside. And they get their hands dirty. And they connect with the natural world. They connect with the food they're growing. "
Another program in Manzo's repertoire is the "School Gardener's Almanac," which helps students learn more about seasons in the Sonoran Desert, planting cycles and foods made from plants native to the area.
It's a part of their education that doesn't just stay in the classroom. Information in the handbook is sourced from the community, according to Thompson. He says that way students are learning about their own heritage.
"The heart of the almanac is really the heritage that's been here," said Thompson. "It's kids growing food in the backyards with their parents and grandparents, and it's their parents' food stories and their grandparents' recipes."
Thompson says it's important that students see themselves in the school's programming.
"I don't want them to say, 'Oh, someone from the university or staff people are gardening'," he said. "I want them to think about their family connections...because really that's when I think our programming becomes the most meaningful, is when the kids can see themselves in the programming that we do."
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Anne Simmons is the digital executive producer for KGUN 9. Anne got her start in television while still a student at the University of Arizona. Before joining KGUN, she managed multiple public access television stations in the Bay Area and has worked as a video producer in the non-profit sector. Share your story ideas and important issues with Anne by emailing anne.simmons@kgun9.com or by connecting on Instagram, Twitter or LinkedIn.
