As part of the Green Initiative at Stanly Community College (SCC), a group of service learning students have built and maintained a community garden on the Albemarle campus. The project began this spring when six Math students used their skills to assemble, fill and plant the beds needed for the garden.

A ground-breaking ceremony was held on March 15, 2010 as SCC President Dr. Michael Taylor drilled the first holes to construct four raised beds for planting vegetables. A local business donated the lumber used to build the beds. One student even donated extra time on weekends to make sure the seedlings received the water needed during that critical time of growth. Among the vegetables planted were lettuce, cabbage, onions, bell peppers, cucumbers, squash, tomatoes, corn, cantaloupe and watermelon.

This semester, a summer student has taken over the care of the garden and has delivered all donated vegetables to the local food pantry in Stanly County that assists in feeding the needy. Fall and winter crops will be planted later this year as a continued project for service learning students and as an effort to encourage civic engagement in the community.

In the future, the college would like to expand the community garden to include the Crutchfield campus in Locust. “I have been thrilled at how successful our garden has been!,” states Melody Braswell, Coordinator of Student Life and Leadership at SCC. “ We owe Shannon Braswell, Extension Agent from the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service, a huge thank you. He worked with us for many weeks in the layout and design of our garden. We have learned so much from this first year, and we look forward to its continued growth and development.”

Pictured above: SCC student Paula Sellers gathers vegetables from the first harvest of the community garden on the Albemarle campus.