Exploring the Impact of Community Gardens at UCF Arboretum

616 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Benefits of community gardens

This past semester I did all of my volunteering hours at the UCF Arboretum. The UCF Arboretum is a learning community whose goal is to teach volunteers about the connection between humans and our ecosystems. The arboretum includes walking trails, a community garden, and a garden located in the creative school which are all on campus. Through my volunteer experience I learned the positive effects of a community garden and the importance of collaboration and citizenship.
According to Twiss, Dickinson, Duma, and Kleinman (2003), community gardens are important because they “improve community nutrition and physical activities” and “promote the role of public heath in improving quality of life.” They do so by allowing for easy and cheap access to nutritional food people otherwise wouldn’t receive. A big problem that comes with healthy eating is that it can be expensive or hard to find in your area. Community gardens like the UCF Arboretum eliminate these concerns. All harvested food goes to students on campus. Volunteers get to take home all the produce they can carry and the rest is donated to the Knight’s Pantry. Any UCF student can take home the food …show more content…

Through collaboration, volunteers are able to “contribute their knowledge, skills, and experience” which allows for others to learn from each other. An important part of collaboration is diversity (Komives, Wagner 2009). Having a community garden in one of the largest universities in the United States allows for a diverse group of volunteers. The diversity at the arboretum allowed for people to learn different techniques regarding gardening. Different styles of gardening are applied to find the best possible methods to enhance the garden. From first time volunteers to the volunteer program facilitator, John Guziejka, everyone uses the experience to learn new

Show More
Related

  • Garden: An Evaluative Review Of The Benefits Of School Garden By Dorothy Blair

    1164 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to an article entitled, The Child in the Garden: An Evaluative Review of the Benefits of School Gardens, by Dorothy Blair, “Anonymous prepackaged food arrives at supermarkets from energy-intensive, polluting, and often obesity-promoting industrial food-manufacturing systems.” This is the main reason that I am interested in food based education programs because I am a mother of three school aged children and as a mom it is difficult for me to encourage healthy eating habits when everything is against me. Television commercials are constantly advertising sugary foods, radios promote candy, and grocery stores encourage more candy sales at checkout lines. On top of that they are packaged in a way that is appealing to young children. For example, I was at the grocery store and saw a box of cereal with the characters of Frozen as did my daughter. Since Frozen is my daughter’s favorite movie she wanted me to buy it for her. I looked at the nutrition content and it was just another sugary cereal. As a mother this is a hard decision because I know the only reason she wants it is because of the packaging. If I say no than she becomes upset and if I say yes than I am not providing healthy food choices. This is the

    Read More

  • Wendell Berry's The Pleasures Of Eating: Analysis

    1606 Words  | 4 Pages

    It is true that growing foods on a farm show that there 's no bad “chemicals” added in the food which starts all out as seeds. If only it weren’t for the fact that again, college students just don’t have time. Along with that, some students live alone in an apartment complex and, I’m sure not too many apartments have an outside area big enough for a private garden. As a college student myself, I find it easier just going to the grocery stores and farmer’s markets to get my food; then again, I still live with my parents and they pay for the groceries. Thankfully, I don’t have to travel to the real farms to get farm-fresh produce; the food comes to local places like the hospital and downtown on certain dates. I suppose a tip for college students; in reality, traveling to the grocery store is easier because it’s a once-per-week-deal while keeping watch over a garden is an every-day-deal and students have things to keep up

    Read More

  • FFA Personal Statement

    494 Words  | 1 Pages

    In addition to FFA, I am a member of Phi Theta Kappa at my college, serve as a Youth Ambassador promoting the Florida State Fair, and am a member of the Junior Board of the Central Florida Fair as a collegiate student where I help to plan activities for the fair’s activities throughout the year that are helping me give back to the agricultural community and develop my skills in agricultural

    Read More

  • Advanced Placement Program

    957 Words  | 2 Pages

    With the help of the Me To We team at Queen Street Public School, I volunteered at a local food bank. The experience was quite educational and fascinating. We encouraged staff and students to donate non-perishable food items for the "We Scare Hunger" campaign. This was definitely a highlight of my grade five year because I felt very humble and warm-hearted by doing a simple act of kindness. In addition, I was chosen to participate in the "Intergenerational" program. This was created so that grade five students can learn more from the elders of the Burton Manor senior home. We had the privilege to learn about their history and interact with them through several educational and fun activities. If accepted, I will indeed join several clubs and teams to contribute my time and talents to make the school an exciting learning

    Read More

  • Volunteerism and Community Service in America Today

    4268 Words  | 9 Pages

    "Volunteering and Civic Life in America 2014" Corporation for National and Community Service. Web. 05 May 2015.

    Read More

  • World War II: Return of the Victory Garden

    827 Words  | 2 Pages

    The victory garden or home garden was something that was highly popular during World War I and II. People would grow their own produce to help with the local food supply and to ease pressure on the local economy. At that time, almost one third of vegetable that were produced in the United States came from people’s home gardening (Wikipedia.org). Since then, there has been a massive decrease in the home garden. Store bought produce had become common place and as a result people have stopped growing their own food. However, by encouraging home gardening, communities can have sustainable, more nutritious produce readily available.

    Read More

  • Renaissance Garden Essay

    1490 Words  | 3 Pages

    Belvedere meaning “beautiful view” in Italian is a word that many people correlated with the style and design of the Italian Renaissance gardens. The sight of these gardens were truly remarkable in a time where design would settle for nothing less of such. Throughout the report many things will be brought to light in relation to the Renaissance gardens. This report will include many sub-sections that will pertain to the design of these gardens. These sections include, the history of the Renaissance gardens, their influences, the garden’s features and the multiple purposes of the different gardens from the Renaissance. Although each section will prove to be different from the one before it, it will be seen that they all link to one common

    Read More

  • What Volunteering Can Teach You

    950 Words  | 2 Pages

    Volunteering enables a person to develop new skills that he or she would otherwise not have been able to develop. Unlike most other organizations, a charitable organization is happy to give positions to passionate, though inexperienced, individuals who desire to help others and benefit the community. Therefore, an individual with little experience in a field of work can gain meaningful skills that he or she can use in the future. For example, while I volunteered at the hospital this summer, I learned about the daily work lives and professional duties of doctors and nurses. Had I not volunteered, I would not have learned about these things. I was always interested in the medical field, but volunteering at the hospital let me explore my interests and en...

    Read More

  • Volunteering and Adult Learning

    1805 Words  | 4 Pages

    Today, volunteerism, and the growing field of volunteer management, continue to reflect close associations with adult education. Research and practice in adult education can inform the development of learning opportunities for volunteers. With this in mind, this Digest describes some of the similarities between the fields of volunteer management and adult education and examines some of the types and methods of learning that occur in the context of volunteering.

    Read More

  • Reflection On Volunteering

    1778 Words  | 4 Pages

    A reflection of my volunteering experience can be summarized in two words: Life-changing. It is hard to explain the feelings that occur when you involve yourself in selfless acts for your community, such as volunteering. There is a feeling in your heart that you cannot ignore, maybe it is the happiness you feel or the overflow of emotions in helping others. In other words, it is a feeling in which you want to share with others. Maybe with a friend, maybe a classmate, maybe a family member, or maybe even a stranger. Either way, spreading how life-changing volunteering can be is a great start to making a positive change in your community by simply by involving others.

    Read More

  • Hogsmeadow Garden Centre Case Study

    1412 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hogsmeadow Garden Centre is a popular tourist area of the UK, which mainly sells garden-related products in shops and high-quality food in restaurants. In the past few years, Hogsmeadow Garden Centre was expanded and the number of customers sharply increased. However, the sales revenue and profitability hadn’t grown as fast. The aim of this essay is to discuss the main micro-operations at Hogsmeadow Garden Centre and its main input resources, transformation process and outputs, the problems faced by Don Dursley in managing and developing his centre and the solutions to improve the profitability of his business.

    Read More

  • The Benefits Of Planting A Garden And Fruit Trees

    734 Words  | 2 Pages

    Have you ever wanted to adjust your ways toward the environment? With baby steps, you can easily achieve the goal, which you did not think you were capable of doing. There is a vast amount of ideas in helping the environment and the community, and gardening is just one of many ideas. Planting a garden and fruit trees can be a goal that you set to make your environment a great and healthier place. In addition, planting something can be tough and physically challenging work, but if gardening is a point that you wish to reach, gardening will be something that you will soon be able to accomplish with a bit of hard work.

    Read More

  • Gardening Essay

    809 Words  | 2 Pages

    Home gardens offer a wide variety of benefits to the environment and serve a diverse group of people. Home gardening provides a source of fresh produce and free of chemicals, it also gives you complete control over the chemicals and products used during the growing process. A home garden allows you to pick the produce when its ripe, unlike produce at the store is often picked before its fully ripe. The quality and flavor of the freshly picked produce from home is better than the produce that might have unknown chemicals and was likely picked several days or weeks before being sold. The produce retains more nutrients when consumed shortly after being picked, making your home garden vegetables a healthier option. A garden also provides a positive environmental impact. The compost allows you to recycle certain kitchen and yard waste into a nutrient-rich additive for the garden. This provides natural fertilizer for you plants and reduces the wastes you produce. If you choose to avoid or limit chemical use, you reduce pollution from your gardening activities. Besides being good for the environment gardens have environmental gains for us. Gardening help control urban temperatures, If the environmental landscape design is effective it can cool your home in summer and warm it in winter, it can also reduce the energy cost by up to 20%. Gardening, and all the physical activity that goes along with it, leads to a better overall physical health, weight loss, improve you bones, and reduces the risk of having osteoporosis. “In a study of 3,310 older women, researchers from the University of Arkansas found that women involved in yard work and other types of gardening exercises had lower rates of osteoporosis than joggers, swimmers, and women wh...

    Read More

  • My Community Service Experience

    509 Words  | 2 Pages

    At the Science Museum I helped take inventory as well as help prepare for community services such as the Science Nights and Boy Scout and Girl Scout camp-ins. When I was young, I personally had the opportunity to participate in one of the Girl Scout camp-ins they hosted. I remember how the volunteers worked hard cooking our breakfast and helping with the activities. It was very rewarding to be on the giving end instead of the receiving end. The Science Nights, which are free to the public, are a good outreach to the young students in the community. These nights are a way of making education fun and exciting for the children.

    Read More

  • Essay On Vegetable Garden

    1266 Words  | 3 Pages

    What type of garden is the best fit for you? Do you have room in a large backyard, limited space, or no yard at all? A thriving garden is possible in any one of these scenarios. If you have very limited space, you will want to

    Read More

More about Exploring the Impact of Community Gardens at UCF Arboretum

Open Document