Leading By Example, Baltimore Students Put in Work in Their School Garden

When I first met Nicole Veltre at Digital Harbor High School (DHHS) in Baltimore City, she gave me the short young adult novel Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman to read. She said the story was the inspiration for the school garden I worked in during my internship.

In Seedfolks, a young girl leads by example when she plants a bean seed in an abandoned lot. When her neighbors see her seedlings emerge from the debris-covered soil, they are inspired to clean up and grow their own fruits and vegetables. The space is soon revitalized into a place where community members can enjoy the benefits of nature.

Ms. Veltre, who is the Sierra Club Baltimore Inspiring Connections Outdoors Co-Chair and as well as a science teacher at DHHS, likes to reinforce a “lead by example” attitude that shows rather than tells. Instead of telling her students about the proven importance of gardens to young minds, she relishes the opportunity to take them outside and let them experience it for themselves. During my internship, I helped Ms. Veltre with lessons in the garden that combined hands-on work and learning.

For many students, it was the first time they had even been in a garden. The colorful crop of chili peppers fascinated a group of boys, who dared each other to take a bite. Others, like a student named Amy, were much more apprehensive and wary of the late summer heat. By our next garden session, however, Amy was enthusiastically digging in the dirt and looking out for Harlequin bugs.

Other students entered the garden with much more appreciation and context. A student named Sara told me that her grandmother used to keep a garden back in her home country, so the DHHS garden recalled fond memories of her grandmother teaching her how to compost and plant seeds. The time we spent in the garden seemed to provide a steadying connection to nature and memory that acted as a bridge between past and present.

By the end of the first half of the school year, Ms. Veltre’s sophomore Environmental Science class had experienced meaningful moments in their school garden, applying classroom lessons and spending time outdoors.

In 2016, Digital Harbor High School was certified a Maryland Green School, a statewide initiative to “empower youth to make changes to reduce environmental impact, encourage sustainability and foster environmental literacy.” Although the garden plays an important role in empowering the school’s students to learn about issues related to environmental sustainability, so do the other green initiatives such as the school’s ICO group and bike club.

Here, too, students learn by example rather than being told. ICO members go on trips that facilitate a direct connection to nature through camping, kayaking, biking, hiking, etc. Trips in the past have included Tilghman Island, where ICO members also assist with various volunteer projects. The bike club, which meets weekly, is a place for students to learn how to ride and repair bikes, while also participating in a sustainable transportation method. In the past, students have created a video calling for more bike lanes, using direct activism to empower themselves and to educate their community.

Ms. Veltre says that it is “all about getting kids outdoors,” and enabling them to experience nature directly. With these experiences, students are able to begin mapping the intricate connections between their school garden and the state parks they visit, the bikes they ride and the importance of clean air in order for nature to thrive.

I imagine that, like the little girl of Seedfolks, these students will go out into the world to lead by example, and inspire the next generation of environmentally conscious youth who are deeply connected to nature.