Justice Through School Gardens Impact Outcomes

Justice Through School Gardens

Students in the Justice Through School Gardens Lab partnered alongside an interdisciplinary instructional team that included Jessica Early, Professor of English; Steven Zuiker, Associate Professor in the Mary Lou Fulton College for Teaching and Learning Innovation; and Hayden Library associate librarian Joe Bunker. Together they collaborated with community leaders, educators, volunteers, and sustainability practitioners across multiple school and community garden sites. The team explored gardens as spaces for justice, care, learning, and collective ownership. Through community-engaged research, students addressed social, environmental, and educational challenges, producing stakeholder-informed designs, stronger volunteer and learning infrastructures, culturally grounded storytelling, and participatory sustainability practices that supported long-term community stewardship while deepening real-world, justice-oriented learning.

Student Outcomes

Clark Park Community Garden Activation

Two students developed their project in partnership with Clark Park Community Garden. Working alongside the garden's key stakeholders and lead volunteers, Oonagh and Julie, they contributed to further imagining events and activations that would position the garden as a vibrant hub for community gatherings and celebrations. The students completed a community garden case study, engaged stakeholders to assess community needs, and designed, organized, promoted, and hosted public events that were designed to strengthen community connections through the garden activations.

For more information, click here.

Escalante Community Garden

Partnering with Escalante Community Garden, this student team chose to design and host a Día de los Muertos community celebration event for the local neighboring community featuring a Memory Garden where participants planted flowers in honor of loved ones, a community storytelling experience that included story collection, a collaborative storybook, and an open mic, and a traditional community ofrenda where their guests could contribute photos and mementos. They invited the broader neighboring community for these location-based opportunities intended to forefront cultural celebration, reflection, and intergenerational connection. For more information, click here.

Broadmor Elementary Learning Patch Garden

The Learning Patch Garden at Broadmor Elementary is a thriving educational and community space working to rebuild engagement following the COVID-19 pandemic. In partnership with garden stakeholders, this student team identified key challenges around volunteer recruitment and community outreach. To address these needs, they developed a social media strategy, created a centralized volunteer management system with communication templates, and recommended opportunities to expand the garden's partnership with Arizona State University through internships and academic engagement. For more information, click here.

Biophilia Through the Three Sisters

The Three Sisters corn, beans, and squash are a traditional Indigenous gardening method that became the foundation for a biophilia-focused learning project that a ASU dtident team developed in partnership with Larry C. Kennedy Elementary (LCK). The collaboration emphasized a needs assessment followed by an identification of needs for garden accessibility, taller garden beds to accommodate wheelchairs, and a need for building energy around expansion opportunities. LCK students participated in a variety of ASU student-led activities. Sensory engagement played a central role: learners explored nature through taste-testing, observing color, and participating in listening and reflection circles designed to deepen their connection with the environment. The project also introduced a Stewardship Badge, encouraging students to take ownership of their learning and the garden’s care. A donated raised flower bed improved accessibility and expanded hands-on learning opportunities.

Learn more about their project here.

Sparky’s Garden Living & Learning Space

Sparky's Garden operated by ASU Farm is a space where students engage with sustainability through hands-on cultivation of fruit and vegetable plots. The garden serves as both an educational site and a community-building environment, promoting teamwork, shared responsibility, and a calm, supportive atmosphere for learning.

Aligned with the course Justice Through School Gardens, this student team's case study highlights Sparky’s Garden’s collaboration with Maya’s Farm, emphasizing environmental stewardship, care, and a strong work ethic. The garden experience centers on developing environmental humility, practicing adaptation to climate change, and understanding distributional justice within food and ecological systems.

Sparky’s Garden prioritizes participatory learning, ensuring students are actively involved in decision-making, growing practices, and stewardship tasks. Through cooperative work and reflection, participants build practical sustainability skills and contribute to a model of community-oriented, justice-focused environmental education.

Dig In: Humanities Lab (and Sparky!) at Sparky’s Garden Event

Students from the Humanities Lab participated in the Sparky’s Garden event to share their work with faculty, students, and members of the ASU community. The gathering created an inviting space for conversation, learning, and connection, where student projects on school gardens, sustainability, and community care could be experienced firsthand. Visitors engaged directly with student presenters, learned how to plant seeds, and explored how gardens support learning, well-being, and shared responsibility. For many attendees, this was their first experience planting a seed. Sparky’s visit added to the sense of joy and campus spirit throughout the day.

End-of-Semester Community Celebration at Maya’s Farm

The Humanities Lab and ASU Farm hosted an end-of-semester celebration on December 5 at Maya’s Farm, bringing together students, faculty, local farmers, and community partners connected to the Spring 2026 Humanities Labs. Attendees explored student work from the Growing BioDiverse Cultures, Justice Through School Gardens, and ReEnvisioning Food Systems Labs, including sculptures, story maps, and fieldwork focused on food systems and community-based research. The gathering also featured a meal prepared by Indigenous chef Mario, alongside opportunities for students and guests to connect across the ASU farming and sustainability community.

The Justice Through School Gardens lab was an incredible opportunity to collaborate with local organizations to meet a community need in a creative way. In our collaboration with Escalante Community Garden, we were able to increase community engagement with the garden in an unexpected way that I wouldn't have been able to think of if it weren't for the team basis of the Lab.
-- Emma Ellexson, Justice Through School Garden, Humanities Lab

This experience has been extremely transformative! I learned how to bridge the gap between academic research and the community to facilitate this community- embedded work. This course really challenged us to take our inspiration and ideas and implement them into the community, which required planning, relationship building, and so much more!
-- Rocio Rivas, Justice Through School Garden, Humanities Lab

Media Coverage

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Justice Through School Gardens Impact Outcomes