Giving to the garden at Foresthill High School

Foresthill High School was very fortunate this spring semester to receive donations from local businesses and the community to help improve the school garden. The garden is funded and managed by FHS science teacher Katie Gengler, giving students the opportunity to learn about agricultural science. The garden also provides community service opportunities for FHS students. Recently, the garden was in need of some serious TLC. Since it is independently funded, Ms. Gengler looked to the community for support by starting a Go Fund Me, ultimately finding success through abundant funds from friends, family and community members. When she went to purchase the necessary supplies, Mountain Enterprises and Robinson's Sand and Gravel offered generous donations of wood chips and dirt. This allowed Ms. Gengler to put more funding into seeds, herbicides, weed mats and various garden supplies. In an interview with Ms. Gengler, I asked about the impacts of these donations from the community. Gengler stated, "Last year, our garden did not produce. It was overrun with weeds and had very infertile soil, and we barely had enough to harvest for the community. I really appreciate the donations from Mountain Enterprises and Robison's SG and friends and family. The garden needed a major overhaul and we couldn't have done it without the help of all of these donations. We look forward to being able to provide vegetables again to the community of Foresthill." These much-needed donations will allow for students to get hands-on experience, learning the skills needed for future careers in agricultural and environmental sciences. The vegetables produced by the garden will be donated to the local community every week, including this year's FFA Veggie Raffle winner. The fresh produce will also be sold at FFA's Harvest Festival Fundraiser in the fall, which helps support the FFA, including the Forestry and Natural Resources CDE teams. What started as a need for a garden upgrade ended as a testament to the strength of our local community. Kitty Fecko is a senior at Foresthill High School.