UPTOWN — For the first time, Harry S. Truman College has its own vegetable garden, used to teach students about everything from soil chemistry to the prevalence of food deserts.
Located atop the fourth floor of the Larry McKeon Student Services Building, the urban teaching garden at Truman, 1145 W. Wilson Ave., isn't terribly large. It's made up of about six 4-foot self-watering containers, according to Joy Walker, the college's physical science department chair who helped spearhead the project.
But it has had a big impact on students since it was set up earlier this summer, she said.
Walker recalled some "beautiful moments," like when Andrew Kerr, a Truman math professor who also helped spearhead the project, taught some students about how a bunch of radishes can be used as a wedding bouquet on a farm. Or, when one student, who had never grown anything before, seemed very impressed by the process.
"You get goosebumps, you think, 'Wow, this is an experience, an exposure they've never had.' It helps them connect back to nature, which in my personal opinion is so important among people, not just urban people," Walker said.
Along with Walker and Kerr, communications professors Geoff Martin and Julie Dockery and Truman's director of facilities Penelope Varnava helped build and maintain the self-watering garden, which collects rain water in its reservoirs.
When asked why Truman decided to jump on the garden bandwagon now, Walker pointed to the participating faculty members' shared passion for gardening.
She also said it has been difficult in the past to find students who are willing to devote extra time to a extracurricular project because community college students "come and go so quickly."
So far, there have been a handful of student trips to the garden — both during and outside of the school hours. Not only have students learned about the importance of growing vegetables as it relates to food culture, but they've also applied mathematics and chemistry to the project, Walker said.
For instance, Kerr's math class calculated the surface area of the garden and the volume of the soil. And Walker's students talked about increasing the nutrients in the soil and statistical studies of plant germination, she said.
"Teaching nowadays has become trying to go beyond the traditional model of students sitting passively in the classroom while a professor lectures. Yet, taking students on field trips is complicated. To have even this little excursion outside the classroom where they get to walk around a different space is a way of making the learning experience active," Walker said.
It's been a bountiful harvest, with the garden producing spinach, radishes, tomatoes, basil, gourmet lettuce and more — but right now, it's unclear where all of the vegetables will end up.
In an ideal world, Truman would follow the model of a community garden in Uptown that donates all of its harvest to shelters, Walker said. But first they must make sure they fully comply with Truman's rules, she added.
Regardless of who ultimately eats the vegetables, the growing process has been eye-opening for students, some of whom regularly come to class with "giant Cokes and bags of potato chips," Walker said.
"It makes me very sad to see students eating what I consider to be junk food. Anything we can do to show them that fresh vegetables are possible without paying an arm and a leg for them ... seeds don't cost that much," she said.
For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here:
