Ida Burns Elementary (Conway School District) – Success Story

Ida Burns Elementary school utilized ISEP funds to build a large garden area for students to build, plant, tend to, harvest and enjoy the garden.

A school-wide garden design contest was launched and 80 student designs were submitted. The winning design, buy a detail oriented 3rd grader, was selected and 9 garden beds were built along with a compost bin, mulch around the garden beds, landscape borders, a garden sign, purchased picnic tables and created an outdoor classroom.

Ida Burns was also able to partner with UCA Honor’s freshman students that lead stations all about planting, harvesting, compost, tasting, and how to make various gardens, and partnered with other local agencies with the FoodCorps service, as well as Captain Planet Foundation, Dole, and HARPS.

All of these partnerships within and outside of the school propelled the garden forward into something we could have only dreamed about at the beginning of the year. The teachers have been raving that the garden is an oasis at our school and that it is a beautiful space that they can’t wait to use year after year with their students.

"We have all kinds of fruits and vegetables. . . We got to cut some of the plants out and make salads” - Baily Sayers, 2nd grader

“Childhood obesity is a significant and growing problem among students. Students do not always make healthy choices about what to eat, and sometimes they are note even aware there are healthy options. The garden project will give our students a very tangible and delicious want to leant about healthy eating habits. We are excited about changing our students’ eating behaviors for the better through his project” -Dr. Murry, Superintendent

“I was thinking of rebuilding this school as a plant school” -Jocelyn Perry, 2nd grader