Anew school year means new opportunities for Hoover High School, and one of these opportunities is Gardening Club, which is advised by Hoover guidance counselor Mrs. Amy Myers. This club offers students a place to be creative and makes the school a better place in making the campus more beautiful. It also gives kids an outlet to go outside and get dirty.
Gardening Club started with a vision. This vision has now turned into an activity that brightens Hoover High School. Myers spoke about the inspiration for starting Gardening Club.
“Gardening is a hobby of mine and I enjoy doing it at home,” she said. “I have a garden every year with flowers, fruits and vegetables. I like the idea of gardening because it connects you to your past in some way. It also connects you to the future, with this idea of planting a flower not knowing if it will grow or blossom for months. This is the same with fruits and vegetables. The reward is so delayed and there is hope in that. I like learning and trying new things and I wanted to share that with the students.”
Many people enjoy gardening to let go of stress and improve their mood, including club member and sophomore Ava Wenger.
“I have always been interested in gardening,” she said. “My family and I grow all kinds of things. I thought joining might be a good idea for the school and for making friends that like the same things as me. I love love love seeing the end product of gardening. It always makes all my worries and stress disappear by relaxing and looking at the piece of art you just made with your bare hands.”
In this digitally-driven society, many students don’t spend as much time outside as previous generations. Gardening Club gives kids an outlet to get outside with their friends.
“This club is an opportunity to engage students in a new way,” she said “It is a way to help give students opportunities to give back to their school and to take care of their campus. Kids are interacting through this club that wouldn’t normally be together. New relationships are one of my main goals.”
The overall outcome has been positive. Sophomore Brooklyn Cammel, a Gardening Club member, said it is important for Hoover High School and community.
“I hope it brings kids and staff joy when they see what we planted,” she said. “We learn how to work well together and outside as well as others seeing beautiful things to make their attitudes better.”
Gardening Club has already started working on many different projects around the school.
“This morning, one of the activities we did was a surprise pop-up flower bouquet delivery,” she said. “Once or twice a month, I’ll let the students know that we have flowers to fill three, four or five bouquets. The first three, four or five students to respond and say they are coming will get to make and deliver a bouquet to a staff member of their choice. We put a tag on it which says it’s from the Gardening Club. This tag also says ‘Should you save the flowers or discard them’ because some of the flowers will give you seeds. This is a way to teach staff about harvesting the seeds.”
Gardening is a way to bring joy to others. It brightens a room with its vivid colors and the life it brings.
“I see how it impacts the school by making it brighter and more fun to learn,” Wenger said. “Having more colors allows the brain to be more stimulated for better learning. Having a club that goes around and takes care of the school and helps it look better not only helps those students look at the school and feel about the school with a higher pride but other students and staff can be proud to say ‘Go look at Hoover it is so pretty.”’
Although the future is uncertain, Myers has an idea for a future project that will bring joy to students, a plan will give them something to take care of and watch grow and thrive.
“As with gardening, sometimes you plant things and you don’t know how it’s going to turn out,” she said. “I think trusting the process organically, letting this club evolve just like I would a plant. We are seeing what we can do to give back and spread some joy. One project I am devoted to that we will do this spring is work with our students, [in which] each of them will get a bucket where they can plant their favorite fruit or vegetable. They can watch it grow and take care of it.”
