Another unique opportunity K-12 teachers and students can engage in without leaving their own campus is a community garden program. The Arizona Department of Health Services School Garden Program offers free certification for school and community gardens.2 This program supplements fruits and vegetables that can benefit the students in the school as well as the surrounding community. There are many existing resources available to help get a project like this off the ground as well as opportunities to acquire grant funding for a garden project.
These experiences provide concrete examples of how one person or group can make a difference. Volunteering and community projects are beneficial not only to the students academically, but also socially. If interest and participation is high, a service-learning project can be developed into an after-school club in which students regularly meet to discuss these types of issues and solutions, making their world a better place.
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Retrieved from:
1Arizona Department of Education, Arizona History and Social Science Standards in July 2022
2Arizona Department of Health Services, Food Safety and Environmental Services in July 2022