As if the freshmen weren’t enough, we have another addition to our school for next year. Except this one has benefits. Free State’s community and learning garden was approved at a recent school board meeting.

With much to be decided, the garden is still in it’s preliminary stages, but the plan is to start planting this spring. Aside from grant money from the city, the FFA has done most of the work for the garden. Unlike West Junior High, the Community Mercantile has no involvement with Free State’s community garden. It has been a “combined labor of love between the city and the FFA chapter,” principal Ed West said.

The garden will be located on the east side of the school, so gardeners may need to keep their heads up for fly balls from the baseball field. There will be a mixture of non-perennial crops grown in the garden, some of which will be used in the school cafeteria. It will primarily be for agriculture classes, with the business side of things handled by the FFA. The garden can also be used by community members for a fee.

“If you are not a part of FFA, that doesn’t mean you can’t be a part of the school garden,” Agriculture teacher Laura Priest said.

Students who are not in FFA, but wish to help with the garden can either take an ag class become a member of the student advisory committee. Priest also hopes to be able to hire students and give them the opportunity to work in the garden part time.

“I think it will be a cool addition to the school, especially for the ag classes, but I don’t think many students will spend their time volunteering without any incentive,” Junior Brogan Sievers said.

Although the chance of students volunteering to help may be slim, getting paid to work in the garden over the summer will appeal to many students. In order to prepare for the 2011-2012 school year, a lot of time will need to be spent in the garden over the summer. This is a great opportunity for students as they could be paid to help their school.