Academy for Academics and Arts, Huntsville, Alabama

Academy for Academics and Arts (AAA) middle-school students teamed with local baby boomer volunteers to restore the school's greenhouse to working order and organize it to be user-friendly for classes of all ages, including storage areas for each grade level. One baby boomer volunteer served as expert gardener and coordinated efforts and resources across the project. Led by their baby-boomer partners, student volunteers installed a new irrigation system and repaired an existing cooling system. They also donated time and energy for clean-up.

The greenhouse is a valuable setting for hands-on learning opportunities across the curriculum; for example, the school hosted a Day of Service focusing on the Business of Poverty, which was linked to a concept-based unit dealing with poverty across subject areas, including the arts. The greenhouse's use has already expanded through a new partnership with high school special needs students who are using the greenhouse for their own plant sale to raise money for vocational training.