Garden Science
THE SYNAPSE GARDEN
The Synapse garden was started in an empty parking lot in 2018 as two 8th Grade students’ Exit Ticket — their culminating graduation project meant to give back to the community. Students and teachers built garden beds by hand in our Engineering & Design Center, and planted the first crops.We currently have two Garden Science specialists on our staff. This dedicated team has grown the garden and collaborates with classroom teachers to involve all students in the garden program.
Garden work
Students of all ages help do the hard work of keeping a garden. From small tasks like seed saving, garden bed cleanup, and sign painting to heavier lifting of shifting compost, turning over beds, or building brand new garden structures in the Makerspace. Middle School Advisories can also adopt a planter and manage their own 4'x4' mini garden for a season.
Garden specialists are always ready to share their knowledge of the life-cycle of the ladybug or what makes a weed a weed. And composting! Students learn what makes healthy compost (versus unhealthy rot!) and what to do to correct unhealthy compost with lots of manual labor: chopping up plants, spinning the bins, and then the big job of processing the “cooked” compost.