Breaking ground with the aurora public schools and north middle schools

By Shannon Spurlock, Community Initiatives Coordinator

This spring, North Middle School Health Sciences and Technology Campus (NMS) will be the first school in Aurora Public Schools (APS) to host a school-based community garden. The seeds of this effort were originally planted in 2010 when Bridging Research and Aurora Neighborhoods for Community Health (BRANCH) – a student, faculty, and staff organization affiliated with the Anschutz Medical Campus – broached Denver Urban Garden (DUG) and APS about partnering to establish school-based community gardens.

All three organizations spent time exploring this idea and what partnerships between the three bodies and schools could look like. APS determined that schools participating in the Aurora LIGHTS program would be a great potential fit as it is geared toward students in grades 6 – 8 who are interested in pursuing careers in the health sciences (http://north.aurorak12.org). North Middle School had expressed interest in having a school-based community garden, believed they had community support and interest, and participated in Aurora LIGHTS; it seemed like a great first site to begin determining the school and community readiness for a community garden.

With the support of the Department of Family Medicine at the Anschutz Medical Campus, generous funding from the Piton Foundation was awarded to support this pilot project. BRANCH students partnered with residents and began reaching out to the community and to school parents to determine interest in participating in a school-based community garden. The surrounding community and parents proved to be very excited about this prospect and, with BRANCH taking the lead, began attending monthly meetings that covered everything from basic organic gardening to going through the background check process.

When it came time to break ground, APS kicked it off by removing the sod, rough grading the terraces, retrofitting the existing irrigation, and providing some repurposed block for the terrace wall. As we move into spring, planning is afoot for active student involvement – in planting the garden and hosting complementary programs such as youth farmers’ markets. NMS also plans to have an EBT machine at their market, ensuring that the healthy fresh food they are selling, is accessible to those using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.

If you are in the neighborhood, stop by on Saturday, May 18 from 10am to 1pm and celebrate the grand opening of the North Middle School Community Garden! We would love to have you and to celebrate the accomplishments of the many partners and community members that came together to make this vision a reality. North Middle School is located at 12095 E Montview Blvd, Aurora, CO 80010.

North Middle School Community Garden site plan