Co-sponsored by the Susan Hirt Hagen Center for Civic and Urban Engagement and the Class of 2024, 16 students helped prep the Springfield Promise Neighborhood Community Garden for spring planting from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 27.

“We have been able to host a couple in-person service events on campus this academic year, however, this is the first event we have been able to host off-campus and in the community,” said sophomore Gabrielle Doty from Northfield, Ohio, who is a community engagement coordinator at the Hagen Center and majoring in history and sociology with minors in archaeology and pre-modern and ancient worlds studies (PAST). 

“Our focus this semester has been partnering with other organizations on campus to host a variety of events, some of which include assembling activity kits for a kid’s food backpack program and a poverty simulation phone app testing,” she continued. “While we have been limited in what types of events we can host, we have still been able to provide meaningful events for students that get them connected with the campus and the community.“

During the Saturday event, students helped dig out and prepare a trench for the garden’s new water line, as well as worked on prepping beds and planting seedlings for the garden that will provide opportunities for neighbors to grow their own vegetables and utilize a public vegetable bed to demonstrate growing techniques.

The opportunity for students to serve was brought to Doty’s attention through the Hagen Center’s long-standing relationship with the Springfield Promise Neighborhood’s executive director Kali Lawrence, Wittenberg class of 2012, and Bob Welker, gardening consultant and Professor Emeritus of Education at Wittenberg.

To learn more about the garden, visit https://www.facebook.com/promisegrows.