‘Keepers of the garden’
Joel Barlow’s wellness class helps students grow skills, relationships
REDDING — Students lined the edge of the pollinator garden outside of Joel Barlow High School, transferring marigolds from plastic containers into the soil at spots marked with vibrantly hued craft sticks.
“Just like that, we have a little bit of color in the garden,” Jeff Brown, the wellness teacher, told the students.
The garden is overseen by a unified wellness class, where students with special needs work together with peer mentors on various aspects of healthy living, including sports in the gym and drumming. The class started three years ago, expanding on the Unified Sports program.
“They are the keepers of the garden,” said Katherine Nuzzo, a science teacher at Barlow.
Nuzzo had wanted to start a unified garden a few years ago when she learned of an available grant that could make it happen. She asked Brown if there was a Unified Sports team that would help and he mentioned the new wellness class as a way to combine the initiatives.
Brown said Unified Sports has been great since it came to Barlow in 2010, but they only got to see the students once a week after school for the games and practices.
The class meets once a cycle for 48 minutes. Students are paired up or in some cases one student with special needs will have two peer mentors.
“It’s definitely one of the more fun parts of our day,” said Toni Veteri-Muntz, a special education teacher.
She said she’s seen her students try new things during the class and really appreciates the relationships formed between her students and their peer mentors.
Tyler Starrett and Charis McNally, both seniors, said they decided to become peer mentors as a way to bond with their classmates with special needs. They said they would see them in the halls, but didn’t have any classes together and so didn’t know them that well.
“They have a way of raising your spirits,” McNally said, adding these connections are her favorite part of the class. “We don’t know the impact we’re making on them, but I know they’re making a big impact on me.”
Starrett said everyone has benefited from that garden because it teaches skills and it provides a break outside in the middle of the peer mentors’ other academic classes.
The garden has already grown with the addition of native plants and colorful flowers, as well as a pathway of stones. A stone marking it as a National Wildlife Certified Habitat Pollinator Garden and a stone bench honoring, Nick Tiseo, a student who died of leukemia have also been placed at the corners of the space.
Grants and donations covered the bulk of the costs and students sold seed papers to pay for the bench.
Raised beds for flowers and vegetables will be added this summer. Staff hope to use the vegetables for student meals in the cafeteria.
Students can already enjoy the fruits of their labor with the lettuce grown in the hydroponic garden in the lab, where they also learn the science behind gardening.
“It tasted pretty good,” said Mathew Noome, a junior in the class, adding he’s really enjoyed learning about the plants.
The garden was started as a way to build skill sets, but it also benefits the community and faculty, said Rosemary Riber, the school’s transition coordinator who has gotten a lot of the grants for the program.
“We thought, not only will it beautify the campus, but our students can learn skills,” she said. “It’s a winwin. The response has been overwhelmingly positive. People have really stepped up.”
The project really got going when the Redding Club and area nurseries got on board.
“It’s great for the kids to be out here in the environment,” said Flo Vannoni, the master gardener with the Redding Garden Club helping out. “Being in a classroom can be confining. Here, they can be themselves.”