Shabazz HS Receives 10K Grant

Ms. Nevels, Shabazz High School's Media Specialist and Garden Club Advisor, applied for funding to sponsor their Garden Club. As a result, Malcolm X Shabazz High School received a $10,000 grant from the Newark Teacher Innovation Fund. As a hobby, Ms. Nevels has been gardening plants and vegetables for over 30 years. Her dream has always been to start her own garden club. An overall objective of this club was to teach students how to plant and grow vegetables as a path to healthy eating.

Ms. Nevels also works closely with the culinary arts teacher and as the vegetables blossom the students in the culinary arts classes cook healthy meals. Since receiving the grant the Garden Club has been able to transform a classroom into a green room. This peaceful atmosphere is a place where students and teachers are able to learn and work together to begin the process of seeding. All students and teachers who are engaged enjoy this experience and have been able to participate in various workshops facilitated by the Greater Newark Conservancy such as Healthy Living, Planting & Gardening and Sustainable City (Greenhouse).

Students also took a tour around the City of Newark to identify solar panels, as well as, build a greenhouse neighborhood. The students who participate in this club have been fully engaged and have a better understanding of how to plant and see the actual fruits of their labor. Malcolm X Shabazz High School now has small gardens around the school and football field that produce vegetables such as: carrots, watermelons, tomatoes and collard greens. It is very important that our youth begin to know the importance of healthy living.

See Ms. Nevels and the students in action below: