Home Community Community News Greenport’s school garden, competing for $20,000 grant, makes it to final round

Greenport’s school garden, competing for $20,000 grant, makes it to final round

Third grade teacher Mary Ann Rempel and some of her students looking at garlic they planted last year in the Greenport school garden. File photo: Denise Civiletti

Greenport’s dream to make its school garden a lot bigger took one step closer to reality today.

The district’s school garden has made it into the final round of a contest for a $20,000 grant that would be used to enlarge Greenport’s small school garden to five times its current size, big enough to serve all the schools in Greenport’s districts (see prior story).

Seeds of Change is giving away almost two dozen $20,000 and $10,000 grants to schools and communities around the country to start or improve their gardens. The finalists are chosen through a round of online voting. Greenport School garnered enough votes from community members and residents to move on to the final round.

Of the 50 finalists, 22 will be chosen by a panel of judges to receive a grant from Seeds of Change.

Greenport wants to use its school garden not just for fresh produce for its schools’ cafeterias, but also as a way to engage its students in a different kind of hands-on learning experience.

“A larger garden will allow a whole class or more into the space at once and it will yield more produce,” Superintendent David Gamberg explained in a previous interview.

The school garden in Southold school district, where Gamberg is also superintendent, produced more than 1,100 pounds of produce last year.

“We would love to see Greenport capable of generating as much,” Gamberg said.

The winners will be announced on May 3.

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Katie Blasl
Katie, winner of the 2016 James Murphy Cub Reporter of the Year award from the L.I. Press Club, is a reporter, editor and web developer for the LOCAL news websites. A Riverhead native, she is a 2014 graduate of Stony Brook University. Email Katie