{"id":4334,"date":"2011-08-20T09:40:00","date_gmt":"2011-08-20T13:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=4334"},"modified":"2011-08-20T09:40:00","modified_gmt":"2011-08-20T13:40:00","slug":"students-cultivate-vegetables-and-pride-in-community-garden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=4334","title":{"rendered":"Students cultivate vegetables and pride in community garden"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The tomatoes were ripe for the picking in the community garden planted by Oxford\u2019s 21st Century Community Learning Center this summer. Eleventh-graders Mayra Qiuroz and Ariana Luna, along with teacher Dana Vannicola, harvested the fruits of their labor, a portion of which will be donated to the Chester County Food Bank.<\/p><\/div>\n

OXFORD \u2013 Pride and self-sufficiency have also sprouted among the tomatoes, carrots and zucchini of Oxford\u2019s first community garden.<\/p>\n

Situated behind the Oxford Public Library, the garden plot consists of eight raised beds built, cultivated and cared for by members of the 21st Century Community Learning Center. With the harvest split between donations to the Chester County Food Bank and the dinner tables of participating students, support for the community garden has grown.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach and every day, students are out in the garden, watering the vegetables and harvesting the ripe tomatoes, zucchini and peppers,\u201d said Bill Rose, coordinator of the 21st CCLC. \u201cIt gives them and their families a place to grow their own fresh food,\u201d he added, noting that those students living in downtown Oxford have no room for a garden.<\/p>\n

For Mayra Quiroz, the garden\u2019s location is perfect. \u201cI live close by and try to water the vegetables every day,\u201d said the eleventh grader at Oxford Area High School.<\/p>\n

Of the eight beds, four are designated to go to the Food Bank, two are allocated for student consumption and two are available for rent to anyone in the community. In addition to what teacher Dana Vannicola considers the \u201csweetest tomatoes,\u201d the students planted carrots, basil, beets, squash, zucchini, jalape\u00f1os and a variety of other peppers.<\/p>\n

\u201cInitiatives like the community garden exemplify a key aspect of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers, which is getting students connected and really promoting community involvement so as to take advantage of the many resources that are available,\u201d added Rose.<\/p>\n

Made possible through grant funding from the Pennsylvania Department of Education, the Chester County Intermediate Unit opened three 21st Century Community Learning Centers to serve 7th-12th graders in southern Chester County. Pennsylvania\u2019s primary goal for its 21st Century Community Learning Centers is to assist youth to meet state standards for core academic subjects by providing students with academic enrichment opportunities outside of school hours. Approximately 100 students in the Avon Grove and Oxford Area School Districts attended the after-school learning centers last year, and about half returned for summer programming.<\/p>\n

Kenneth Pienkos, director of the Oxford Public Library, says he jumped at the opportunity to host the gardens on library property because it was an ideal way to engage 21st CCLC students more actively in the library\u2019s community presence. \u201cThe library community is delighted with the results and our public engagement has exceeded all expectations!\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n

According to Rose, the garden vegetables will be used at the end-of-year soccer game and parent picnic on Sunday, August 21 at New Garden Park. \u201cWe also plan to use the vegetables in our fall programming for the healthy eating activities,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

For more information on Pennsylvania\u2019s 21st CCLC, please visit http:\/\/www.21stcclc.org<\/a>. For more information regarding the Chester County Intermediate Unit, please visit http:\/\/www.cciu.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OXFORD \u2013 Pride and self-sufficiency have also sprouted among the tomatoes, carrots and zucchini of Oxford\u2019s first community garden. Situated behind the Oxford Public Library, the garden plot consists of eight raised beds built, cultivated and cared for by members of the 21st Century Community Learning Center. With the harvest split between donations to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4336,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7],"tags":[349,495,494],"class_list":["post-4334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","tag-chester-county-food-bank","tag-chester-county-intermediate-unit","tag-community-garden"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4334\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}