Two small boxes of soil sit behind Beacon Heights Elementary lined with turnip, lettuce, Brussels sprout and baby carrot seeds. But teacher Stephen Biller said he hopes to see rows of garden beds filled with healthy growing vegetables for the school and surrounding community to harvest and enjoy this spring.

The fifth-grade science teacher and a few other teachers organized a community vegetable garden groundbreaking Oct. 1, where about 40 students, parents and faculty came out to construct the initial two beds of the 14- to 16-bed garden project that is designed to teach students how vegetables are grown and to promote community unity.

“I planted some turnips,” said sixth-grade student Pamela Flores, 10. “I think it’s cool because we can learn how to plant food. The garden is going to help the community have better foods than we already have.”

Biller said the Riverdale school received a $500 grant from a Landover Walmart that was having a grand reopening and was looking for community outreach programs to support. He said about $150 was used for the start-up, as each bed cost about $80 to plant.

“The main goal is to teach the kids about organic farming, sustainable foods and fresh, local produce,” Biller said, adding he hopes the garden will be a place present and past students, as well as families, can use for their own consumption.

Shannon Stewart, an English as a Second Language teacher, helped start the project and said organizers have applied for a $2,000 county grant that would allow them to complete the project.

She said they are done planting for the season but will begin planting the additional beds in the spring with a variety of different vegetables such as tomatoes and squash.

“We hope to build on this to expand and get the kids and their families more involved and eventually turn it over to the community so it’s kind of self supporting,” she said.

Biller said the garden project was the school’s first step toward eventually becoming a certified “green school,” as the school just created a “green team” to organize initiatives like the garden.

Green Team certification is given through the Maryland Association for Environment and Outdoor Education, a statewide nonprofit that certifies Maryland schools after they complete core requirements.

Maurie Kathan, a green schools organizer for the state association, said schools need to incorporate environmental issues in all of their teaching subjects, complete two environmental projects that create a structure for learning and develop community partnerships by doing activities such as trash pickups. All of the requirements have to be documented over a two-year period and sent to the Maryland Association for Environment and Outdoor Education for review, with schools reapplying every two years to maintain the certification.

She said 12 schools in Prince George’s County have a green school certification.

She said rather than focusing on the environmental aspect of the school buildings, the certification is more about educational programs, allowing schools built in the 1950s to have the same opportunity for certification as newer schools built with environmentally friendly materials.

“It’s a culture change for schools,” Kathan said. “The intention is to get the whole school thinking more green and create a more environmentally literate student body.”

Beacon Heights Assistant Principal Lila Walker said the community garden is a great idea and is moving the students in the right direction.

She said she hopes it encourages the school to work toward gaining green school certification.

“This is our next generation, and they have to be aware of the environment,” she said.

djgross@gazette.net