The Willow Run school district, located in Southeast Michigan, has been a Learn and Serve - Michigan grantee since the 2008-2009 school year. During that time they've developed numerous on-going service-learning projects, incorporating all seven schools in the district and hundreds of students.
A recent project, developed during the 2009-2010 school year, places the majority of its responsibility on the student's shoulders; providing them with an in-depth service-learning experience. The "Watching Willow Run Grow" project features a community garden located at Willow Run High School. From the project's initial planning stages, students' thoughts and ideas propelled it forward - all with the concept of helping the community and the environment.
Twenty plots were developed in the community garden and opened to the public on May 12, 2010. Nearly 225 students, ranging from kindergarten to 12th grade, made those gardens possible; all while learning about the environment, importance of nutrition, and community involvement. The project has carried on into Willow Run's summer school program, with nearly 150 students continuing to maintain the plots full of tomato, squash, and pepper plants. Recently first graders in the summer school program built and installed two scarecrows to protect the students' nutritional investments.
Penny Morgan, Academic Services Facilitator at Willow Run Community Schools, believes this project; while it has provided the students with necessary academic preparation, has also engrained in them the importance of community pride.
"Our students are visibly seeing how they are making a difference," she explained. "When the students take ownership of a project and can see how they're helping others in need, it becomes a really important effort. They're not just learning in the classroom and unable to see how their studies can be physically tied to an experience."
The community has also responded in a positive manner to the "Watch Willow Run Grow" project, with a few of the 20 plots being used by local citizens. The students still do their part by offering to water and weed them when necessary.
Penny says she hopes the garden will continue as part of the 2010-2011 school year. She also hopes to give additional community members more opportunities to grow their own plots at the school.
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