Every year, the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society at Jones College puts together a College Project, and this year the organization chose to build a community garden outside of the Thomas Harris Science Building.
In December, PTK will submit this project to the national PTK College Project competition with the goal of receiving a high ranking.
“I’ve done a project with PTK every year,” said Mark Brown, visual arts professor and PTK advisor. “We compete nationally with it. There are more than 1300 chapters that we compete with, and two years ago we got 39th place. We’re hoping to get in that area again with this year’s project, so we’re working hard.”
According to Brown, the idea for the garden came directly from Jones College President Dr. Jesse Smith.
“It’s always good when a project comes from one of our administrators,” Brown said. “Dr. Smith has been very gracious to us in the past three years to provide a project idea and to see a need on campus so we can help him fill that void.”
This project will serve as an educational opportunity for those wanting to learn more about cultivation and as a way to provide food to the Jones College community.
Patrick Bullock, a sophomore and Jones PTK member, who helped with preparing the beds and with the planting and plotting of the garden, said, “I think it’s a good opportunity for those who are interested to learn about the process of growing things, and we hope to provide food for people that don’t have access to fresh produce.”
The execution of this project was aided by PTK members at Jones College who volunteered their time and labor to construct the garden. The faculty and staff at Jones College also played an important role in the construction of the garden. The grounds team and members of the science department assisted PTK in the completion of the project.
“So far, grounds and the science department have been some of our biggest helpers,” Brown said. “Dr. Butler and Mr. (Tate) Warren, who work in science, already had the idea for a garden, so this just really dovetails into their efforts. Any time we do something with grounds, we have to get permission and get their help. Brian Johnson, the leader of grounds, and his crew were just absolutely awesome.”
The plan for the garden is to start with fall crops in small plots as a trial-run, but there are hopes to expand in the future.
Brown said, “Hopefully the garden will expand. This semester what we are trying to do is have test plots. With it being fall we’re limited on what we can grow, so we’re looking at more greens and broccoli and things like that.”
Overall, the community garden was put into place to provide a meaningful service to Jones College.
“I am very glad we were given the opportunity to do something for Jones College,” Bullock said. “The teachers, the students and everybody we interact with in the day-to-day do so much for us, and it’s nice to be able to give back with something tangible.”
by Jaylynn Conner
