New Manchester Elementary School students got their hands dirty on Earth Day, joining PlantLanta and Microsoft volunteers for a hands-on garden build made possible by the Douglas County Education Foundation.
Together, 30 students worked with volunteers to construct 10 new garden beds, filling them with nutrient-rich soil and mulch and installing a retractable water system to support ongoing maintenance.
The experience went far beyond a traditional build. Students took full ownership of the process from start to finish.
Working in teams, students problem-solved in real time as they assembled garden beds, created an efficient wheelbarrow assembly line to transport materials, and used rakes to level and prepare each space for planting.
Before adding soil, students and volunteers repurposed empty Amazon boxes as bed liners, showing students how the cardboard suppresses weeds from below.
The day was a true demonstration of teamwork, leadership and hands-on STEAM learning in action.
To celebrate, students capped the day with lunch from Chick-fil-A Cascade, a community partner supporting upcoming PlantLanta initiatives.
The garden will serve as a living classroom at New Manchester Elementary, supporting ongoing lessons in sustainability, nutrition and environmental stewardship, and giving students the confidence and skills to create and care for sustainable spaces in their own communities.