Students in the Rock ‘n’ Read program at Kepner Middle School this summer did their part for their community by digging right in – literally! – to the development of the community garden near their school.
Kepner students (above) work hard on their plants, digging up weeds and creating rich compost!
Student Eleuterio told us, “We did a lot of work to help this garden look nice. We had to get shovels to dig. We needed a lot of people to carry the weeds. The garden looked beautiful when we were done.”
Reported Esmeralda, “There were weeds in our part of the garden. The first day we were just looking to see what we could do.”
When they conducted their community inventory, they saw that the community garden was the centerpiece of the community, and they wanted to be a part of its upkeep. With help from their friends at Denver Urban Gardens, the students gained access to the garden and made plans for a bit of beautification.
Rock 'n' Read wasn't all weeds and blisters! The students got to go camping and took regular swimming trips around the neighborhood.
“When I saw people selling flowers down the street it gave me ideas what I could do to change the garden,” Eric said. The students bought fruit seeds to plant, pulled weeds and made compost. They planted their new flowers and other plants, too. They even helped other community members clean up their plots for planting! It took a lot of work, but they made a real impact.
“Pop! A flower came out of the ground. I loved it,” said Adrian.