The victory garden in October.

Most places have community gardens, and Eleanor Roosevelt is no exception! Roosevelt’s victory garden can be found at the back of the school near the tennis courts. The first ERHS victory garden was planned for 2 years and finalized in 2014. However, after years of little to no care, its condition worsened. Despite all of this, there is hope for our victory garden! In 2017, ERHS students planned a new design for the victory garden, getting help from other teachers along the way. In 2023, students have begun with the building of the victory garden. With the well-cultivated planning of the ERHS students and the help of the technology and engineering teacher, Mr. Robert Nusum, the victory garden will be back and better than ever! 

The idea for the victory garden rebuilding came up 5 years ago by a few students. They brought the idea to multiple teachers, getting design ideas on the way. They brought the design plan to Mr. Nusum and he gave them materials to make their plans a reality.

“It’s not just gonna do something for the school, it’s gonna do something for the community,” explained Mr. Nusum. “It’ll be a wonderful testament to what students can accomplish together with a little bit of research and community.” Most of Mr. Nusum’s students contribute with what they can. His students come together to build and move things and solve problems. All of these can not only be a positive thing for the school but also leave its contributors with an enriching, wonderful experience where they learn something new. The victory garden already seems like it’s positively impacted students!

A freshman at Eleanor Roosevelt High School describes her experience while working in the victory garden: “I find that the hours go by really fast working in the victory garden, and I enjoy cleaning and helping out with friends!” She continued to say that she has since “learned how to use a drill since helping out!” So not only is the victory garden an opportunity to learn, but to also have fun! She also mentioned that service hours were given out to students who helped with the project. She explpains work in the victory garden is going to leave those who worked on it with “a sense of accomplishment.”.She ended her response by saying, “I think the work we’ve done is pretty cool and I can’t wait to grow stuff in it!”.

When Mr. Nusum and his students found this Raider Review article about the garden  in 2017, they went to check on the garden itself and saw that it was abandoned and that no one was tending to it. Unfortunately, the garden was weed-infested and full of mice. Upon seeing this, they took it upon themselves to build a garden that would last. They also wanted it to be “desirable enough to keep maintained.”

Students are looking toward the future with new additions to the garden like a greenhouse, a gazebo, and raising the garden beds. The greenhouse will allow students to control the amount of water going into the plants. It would also help protect the plants from snow since winter is right around the corner! They are rebuilding the raised garden beds. The gazebo is going to be installed next to the area of garden beds. The exposed garden beds will be used during warmer times such as spring and summer. The greenhouse is planned to have vegetables, perennial plants (plants that live for more than two years), flowers, and herbs. Students and staff will have the ability to suggest plants to be planted when the garden is operational!

In the future, the victory garden may be open to science experiments and testing, which will be especially useful for research practicum projects.

The original victory garden was built in honor of Eleanor Roosevelt, as she came up with the idea to grow them. The purpose of the victory gardens was to grow more produce, as there was a shortage of farmers during World War II. Inspired by this, ERHS built its own victory garden! Its original purpose was to create produce for the community and provide produce to the Greenbelt Food Bank. On November 13, 2014, the Do Something Club went out to clean the victory garden and they found themselves with a nice surprise! They harvested butternut squash, peppers, and collards. However, that is as much of what is known about the original garden, according to the Raider Review.

Overall, the victory garden’s return seems to have a positive effect on the community! Students are becoming more involved in their environment, working together to create something great! On top of that, it is highly encouraged that more people get involved with the garden. This is not restricted to a specific group, anyone can work in the garden as long as they work through Mr. Nusum or Mrs. Komar. This is a community project, so everyone can contribute in their way! If you or a friend of yours is interested in working in the garden, Talk to Mr. Nusum or Ms. Komar about the next time a work session will be held. Teams sometimes work during 3rd and 6th periods, as those are Mr. Nusum’s planning and lunch times. It is occasionally worked on after school or during the weekends, but make sure that you don’t go there alone (otherwise you’ll just look insane trying to get into school on a weekend).