The garden idea started during our stakeholders visioning session.
A group of us got together and set down to make a continuous school improvement plan. We asked ourselves what outcomes we want from our school and we all agreed: we wanted to graduate students who wanted to serve their communities out of their love for Jesus. We’re a school, so academics are a given, and academics work hand in hand with project based learning. We all remember school projects far better than worksheets! And when students work on real-life problems, they’re developing vital communication and collaboration skills that will serve them for the rest of their lives.
So from the visioning session, there the garden idea lay dormant for a while. I have an area by my office desk where I write needs we have. I scratch them out on sticky notes and pray over them, and what’s been happening is that a few months later I’ll look up at my haphazard lists and see that God has answered our prayers - again. He’s done it with starting our monthly story hour for 3, 4, and 5 year olds. He’s done it with sending us a passionate and talented music teacher who volunteers her time. And now He’s done it again with providing an enthusiastic team to get a garden up and running.
A group of us got together and set down to make a continuous school improvement plan. We asked ourselves what outcomes we want from our school and we all agreed: we wanted to graduate students who wanted to serve their communities out of their love for Jesus. We’re a school, so academics are a given, and academics work hand in hand with project based learning. We all remember school projects far better than worksheets! And when students work on real-life problems, they’re developing vital communication and collaboration skills that will serve them for the rest of their lives.
So from the visioning session, there the garden idea lay dormant for a while. I have an area by my office desk where I write needs we have. I scratch them out on sticky notes and pray over them, and what’s been happening is that a few months later I’ll look up at my haphazard lists and see that God has answered our prayers - again. He’s done it with starting our monthly story hour for 3, 4, and 5 year olds. He’s done it with sending us a passionate and talented music teacher who volunteers her time. And now He’s done it again with providing an enthusiastic team to get a garden up and running.
It was our dream to have the students involved from the beginning stages; unfortunately that looked a lot different because of Covid-19. But as a school, we’re looking forward to being as involved as possible as we go forward and the proceeds from our garden is going to support student scholarships and other school projects.
Ultimately, we’re here to love Sutherlin and serve our community. That’s what Jesus was all about when He walked this earth, and that’s what He’s still about. We’re excited for Jesus to come again and take us Home to be with Him forever, but we remember that Jesus repeatedly tells His followers that the Kingdom of Heaven is now, and we want to dwell in and cultivate that Kingdom here on earth.
We’re here to love and serve Sutherlin.
