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Show 191 THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH My sponsor and I are working with a Title 1 elementary school, Jackson Elementary, and a youth re-search collective, Mestizo Arts and Activism, to develop a community classroom garden with Jackson Elementary and the Rosepark community on the west side of SLC. We are using a Community-Based Participatory Research method that brings together researchers and community members to "col-laboratively engage in research with the purpose of solving a pressing community problem" (1). One community problem we are addressing is a lack of community participation at Jackson Elementary and in Rosepark in general. Currently, my team of high school researchers and I are collecting community surveys from the Rosepark neighborhood as well as holding bi-monthly dialogues with teachers, student government and families at Jackson. Because community efficacy is central to our research approach, we are work-ing with students, teachers and families to design the garden, create gardening goals, build the garden and decide on how to fund the project. So far, our feedback from teachers, students and the community indicates that they think it is a good tool for teaching children and for community building. One mother's response was, "Me encanta la idea porque los niños van a aprender mucho," or, "I love the idea because the children will learn a lot." In one dialogue session, a teacher lamented, "Urban schools don't have the ability for students to explore in natural environments. Students and teachers get cooped up in classrooms." She thought a garden would help because, "growing plants will help students understand cycles, seasons and natural history. The garden would be for hands on learning- bringing our students into the real world." Jackson's student government thought the garden should "Grow big, fun plants like pumpkins!" Because CBPR is based not only in collecting information but also in making our research proactive, it is important to note that we just received funding from the Sustainable Campus Initiative Fund (SCIF) to implement the garden this spring. (1) Strand, K., Marullo, S., Cutforth, N., Stoecker, R., & Donohue, P. (2003). Community Based Participa-tory Research and Higher Education: Principles and Practices. San Francisco: John Wiley and Sons. JACKSON ELEMENTARY'S SCHOOL GARDEN: CASE STUDY IN COMMUNITY BASED PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH Ashley Edgette (Matt Bradley) Honors College University of Utah Sustainability Ashley Edgette Matt Bradley |