Community gardens flourish at Federal Way schools

There are now 16 community gardens within Federal Way Public Schools, including Twin Lakes Elementary, which held its grand opening on June 1.

There were fun activities and resources as well as food, music and performances, and special guests — including representatives from Swansons plant nursery in Seattle and the Seahawks — to encourage engagement with and around the school garden.

This year, Twin Lakes staff Marina Rojas and Alysia Morales led efforts to organize and build a community garden for the school, securing over $10,000 in donated funds and materials to make it happen, according to the district. They partnered with the Seahawks, working with them in planning and reaching out to additional community partners, including Swansons Nursery in Seattle, which shared resources, funds, and donated labor.

The garden will be a center where Twin Lakes Elementary families and neighbors can have free access to fresh fruits and vegetables and build relationships with each other.

Marine Hills Garden Club also supported this garden.

“We really like the idea of growing gardeners,” Radhika Kumar of the Marine Hills Garden Club said of their work with the gardens at Federal Way Public Schools.

The school district integrates the gardens into a variety of lessons, finding applications in math, science, language arts and more, according to Danielle Harrington who is the School District Garden Specialist for FWPS and has supported the revitalization and maintenance of the gardens.

Right now, every one of the 1,800 first-grade students in the district received a strawberry plant of their own through their English language studies class focusing on integrating native education and history into the curriculum.

Students and faculty at FWPS’s Employment and Transition Program (ETP) were instrumental in making this large project happen, helping with loading and delivering the plants to elementary schools all over Federal Way.

The ETP center also has a new garden, which was created two years ago. That garden is located at the Norman Center, 33250 21st Ave. SW, Federal Way.

“It’s important for scholars to feel connected to the environment and to have this meaningful experience of giving and receiving,” Harrington said.

All schools in Federal Way also feature signage that shares information about five specific native plants, including the name of the plant in the Lushootseed language and the cultural and environmental significance of the plant.

“They like that it’s hands on, that they get to move around and that’s really valuable for a lot of our students,” Harrington said of the benefits of the garden education program.

ETP Garden

The ETP provides “job-like experiences” for individuals between the ages of 18-21 who are leaving high school, but not quite ready for the workforce.

The FWPS website describes the program as providing “valuable training towards becoming a successful future employee. Typical jobsites include warehouse work, office/clerical work, landscape and grounds maintenance, custodial/building maintenance, food service, retail positions, and many other opportunities.”

The building transformed its former playground into a garden two years ago, and since then, it has been a new way to assess job skills and more.

The center also grows native plants that are then sent out to schools around the district, sometimes up to 200 plants representing five to six species.

Job coaches from Trillium utilize the gardens over the summer. They work on tasks and skills including weeding, harvesting, plant identification, fertilizers, moisture testing and crop rotation.

The garden also ties into weekly cooking classes at the school, which utilizes the fresh produce when they can.

ETP teacher Rex Tucker said he worked in the Puyallup School District before returning to Federal Way Public Schools and had school gardens there, so transforming the former playground into a garden seemed like a natural possibility.

“I like the idea of encouraging kids to know what real food is. It’s healthy to know where food comes from,” Dianna Vaughan said. She is a newer member of the Marine Hills Garden Club, but she has supported the club for many years and recently retired from her career as a nurse.

The Marine Hills Garden Club provides plants, materials, funding and expertise to that garden as well as other school gardens in the district.

Debbie Angel said she believes that “if the kids are involved in growing it, they’re more open to trying it.” Angel has been with the garden club for several years, and is active with the Chinook District of Garden Clubs (all the garden clubs in South King County) and the WA State Federation of Garden Clubs.

Seahawks merchandise was just one fun thing students and families had the chance to take home with them from the event.

Photo by Keelin Everly-Lang / The Mirror

Seahawks merchandise was just one fun thing students and families had the chance to take home with them from the event.

STEM activities featuring engineering skills were also present at the Twin Lakes Elementary community garden opening, highlighting the way gardens are integrated with many different topics at FWPS. Photo by Keelin Everly-Lang / The Mirror

Youth and families got the chance to take home flower and vegetable plants and do a variety of fun activities at booths at the Twin Lakes Elementary community garden opening celebration.

Corey Johnson is a maintenance and operations vendor from Johnson Irrigation LLC and supports the gardens by ensuring they stay watered year-round. Danielle Harrington is the School District Garden Specialist for FWPS.

EarthCorps members were involved in recent FWPS event Storming the Sound where they led some education and activities around salmon life cycles. Photo by Keelin Everly-Lang / The Mirror

Judy McDonald, Carrie Asselin and Mary Beth Lanza are part of the Marine Hills Garden Club which consistently supports school gardens in FWPS in a variety of ways. At the Twin Lakes Elementary community garden opening, they taught attendees how to create “seed bombs” using newspaper scraps. Photo by Keelin Everly-Lang / The Mirror

Families connected with one another as kids got to participate in decorating stones for the Twin Lakes community garden. Photo by Keelin Everly-Lang / The Mirror

Decorating pots was just one of the many activities at the Twin Lakes Elementary community garden opening event on Saturday, June 1. Photo by Keelin Everly-Lang / The Mirror