High school students practice sustainable farming

High school students enrolled in the Upward Bound program at Grand Valley are learning about sustainable food systems and organic farming practices. They are getting hands on experience at Grand Valley’s Sustainable Agriculture Project (SAP), a farming space in Allendale. 

Levi Gardner, manager of SAP, regularly meets with students from Union High School and Central High School in Grand Rapids to educate them about soil structure, irrigation, agriculture, and transplanting plants, flowers and herbs.

On June 6, students transplanted the seedlings they have been nursing in a greenhouse for the past few weeks into the soil at SAP. Students are assigned a different plant to care for and will eventually sell their plants and produce at the Grand Valley Farmers Market.

“I think the students are excited to get out of the classroom, be challenged a bit and get their hands dirty,” said Gardner. “Overall, it’s been a fun experience both for them and for me.”

The Upward Bound program is a federally-funded TRiO program and prepares first-generation college-bound students in grades nine through 12 for success in high school and enrollment in college.