This week we hosted two alternative spring break activities with out-of-town college students at Galvez Garden. It was a busy, productive, and inspiring week! We are so moved by how these young people chose to spend their spring break and had a wonderful time hosting both groups.

Notre Dame Institute for Social Concern

On Tuesday students from Notre Dame’s Institute for Social Concern volunteers came and helped us in the garden. As part of a one credit course, this group of students were specifically examining environmental racism and sought us out for our social justice work through the garden. The day started with a presentation from our intern, Meghan, and then we had discussions about community gardens for social justice as we worked. After meeting the bunnies we planted a new bed from start to finish for tomatoes.

Students also had the opportunity to work in the greenhouse, planting watermelon seeds. They were very excited to plant things that will eventually become food to share with our community. They took the task very seriously and we were impressed by how many plants they started.

We divided the larger group into two smaller groups to accomplish different beautification tasks in the garden. One group of students worked together tracing each other for the start of a mural we are painting. They were instructed that the mural was aimed at projecting “inclusivity”, and decided to make two figures, looking at one another and holding hands. The young lady decided to push the message further by making a peace sign as she posed.

We knew we had the other group coming to work on it, so we were very pleased with what they were able to accomplish. The young man was thrilled have been asked to be immortalized in the painting.

Another group of Notre Dame students worked on the other side of the garden, and painted something completely different. They were given a variety of paint and a leader clearly emerged, deciding to paint each board a different color in a pattern.

It was fun to witness how much the students enjoyed taking ownership of their projects at the garden. We were amazed by how much they accomplished in their time with us!

Suffolk Center for Community Engagement

On Thursday we welcomed another group of college students, this time alternative spring breakers from Suffolk.

This visit was entirely organized by the students themselves. Behind the scenes we have been planning for their arrival for months. There was palpable excitement in the air when the group unloaded from the van! Again starting of our day with a brief lecture from Meghan, we realized the content we were sharing was rather dark and bummed out the mood. Quickly changing gears, we started our activities with feeding the bunnies. Students learned how to identify weeds that the bunnies really enjoy and one by one, everyone got a chance to feed them. You can tell by their social media posts, they really got a kick out of our bucks.

After lightening up our energy, we got straight to work on the murals. Students had the chance to plant beans we had soaked overnight and loofah in the greenhouse. Most of our time with the Suffolk students was spent painting and discussing current political events. Students added colorful flowers to our existing painted silhouette figures. Each student received a different color and got to work painting outlined abstract flowers to the fence. The pops of color really add excitement to the scene.

A group worked to finish the pattern that was started by Notre Dame students on the inside of the fence while other students painted flowers on the exterior fence.

The work and meaningful conversations from these passion young adults gave us so much hope and we had an amazing day in the garden!

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All in all our garden got a great makeover from both of these visits. Thank you so much to both universities for the thoughtful students you shared with us for spring break! We welcome you any time and encourage other colleges and universities to promote meaningful alternative spring breaks like this.