Kentucky schools, Bullitt County in particular, score far below the national average in standardized testing in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) subjects .  Gardening Club at Roby Elementary provides an in school opportunity for hands on learning by each student on how to grow fruits & vegetables, opportunity to develop social skills, employ math concepts related to gardening, exposure to prepare the fresh foods they have helped grow, and learn about environmental relationships in the ecosystem. 

This is the first year for the Garden Club at Roby Elementary.  Bullitt County Extension is steadily building rapport with local teachers, and being sought out for assistance. Extension has been involved in developing and implementing three other gardening programs in Bullitt County Schools (Mt. Washington Elementary, Nichols Elementary and Bernheim Middle Schools). The impact we’ve noted across several years is remarkable.  Students are invested in the clubs; they take pride in showcasing their skills and accomplishments in the physical school gardens. 

Utilizing Junior Master Gardener, Project WET and other national youth curriculum Club leaders from Roby Elementary and the Bullitt County Extension meet with students once a month for an hour to teach gardening programming.  21 students participate in the program this school year.  Projects such as planting mums in the school courtyard, growing their own plants to sell as a fundraiser, planning and building garden beds and planning and planting a four season garden help students to develop essential STEM skills. 

Many limited resource youth have poor health skills and limited knowledge of the relationship between healthy habits and physical health.  For this reason, the same students are not currently able to effectively exercise healthy lifestyle choices.  STEM skills are essential in early childhood education.  Garden club gives young students the opportunity to practice kinetic application.  They visually see how they can build upon foundational textbook learning, thus incorporating life skills.

As measured through pre and post survey the first year students at the previous schools showed an average knowledge gained around 87% and 47% reported adopting one or more gardening practice learned through Garden Club.  Several students successfully convinced a parent to pick up a bag of soil and package of seeds after our initial planting activity.