West Philadelphia High School students are learning that science isn't just about learning in the classroom or at the lab bench.
An ongoing project on the corner of Walnut and Hanson streets is teaching students the lessons of science -- and community -- through developing a garden for the local community.
Under the leadership of Jon Rueckert, a science teacher at the school, dozens of students are working to transform a dilapidated plot of land at a nearby apartment complex into a blooming garden.
Rueckert is using the project, started last December, to teach his students the fundamentals of earth science and gardening techniques, soil appreciation and irrigation requirements.
But Rueckert said the other message he is trying to send the community is one of persistence and dedication.
"I love it. I like to garden," Rueckert mentioned. "I think there is a garden in all of us."
The plot was secured for community gardening in an agreement with the Windemere Court Apartments, where it is located.
"Obviously, I'm very happy," Daniel Feinberg, owner of the apartment complex, said of the gardening project.
"If it's a goal to try to do something productive and be successful, we always have to be willing or able to take advantage of the situation," he added.
The area is a fenced 5700 sq. ft. lot now equipped with seven raised beds of growing vegetables built by student volunteers.
"What's exciting about the particular project is that there was a space, a willing teacher, a hands-on project," Outreach Manager for Philadelphia Green Patricia Schrieber said.
"We don't talk about those outdoor ideas [to the students] until you probe them a little bit," Rueckert said, explaining a project where he asked students to design a garden.
"Some kids' gardens were elaborate, others were very utilitarian, but they were [all] very imaginative," he added.
Some students indeed seemed very committed as well.
"I learned about nutrients, when the plants need to be watered, when is the best time to pick them, when is the worst time to pick them and stuff like that," said J.T. Hennigan, a high school senior involved in the project.
Students initially met the project with reluctance and skepticism, according to West Philadelphia High School teacher Erwin Lewis.
"But then they get into it. Hands-on appreciation is what it takes to make a garden and maintaining it," he said.
A smaller scale gardening lab was organized within the classrooms at the beginning of the project.
"They checked on [the plants] like they were their kids," Rueckert asserted. "They felt they owned the stuff they grew. They became better nurturers of their plants."
The need for the garden to serve as a community gathering stood out as the guiding principle for the project, Rueckert said.
"[The students] like the fact that there is a garden growing in the neighborhood and it's part of them." Rueckert said. "The reaction has been positive, I'd say."
The garden has attracted the attention of numerous local organizations, including a division of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and the Pennsylvania State University Urban Gardening Program.
Such groups have donated their equipment, time and expertise to see the project to fruition.
The ready availability of mulch, compost and other materials from the Fairmount Park Recycling Center has helped in the establishment of the garden.
And Penn, too, has had a hand in building the gardens.
Acting as a senior partner in local school cluster resource boards, Penn helped oversee the allocation of school district funds to the gardens.
Josephine Robles, Penn's coordinator for the University City and West Philadelphia Cluster Resource Boards, said the role of the University in the project is just a natural extension of work already done through the University's Center for Community Partnerships.
"The Center for Community Partnerships has had a long standing relationship with the schools in the community," Robles said in an email.
Similar gardening projects for the Lea School, Drew Elementary School and University City High School have been sponsored by the cluster resource boards and the Urban Nutrition Initiative, another Penn group.
