Challenge School Ptco

Imagine this. It's a crisp Thursday afternoon in October, and you're waiting for your son to come out of the school building. 

It's been a hectic week, so instead of sitting in your car, you wait on a reading bench in the Wellness Garden's Arboreteum. When he comes out, he greets you and points to the perfectly round pumpkin growing in the patch next to you.  "That one's mine," he says proudly, "Our class planted those."  

The idea for a school garden was first conceived by Mr. King in 2011. He wanted to enliven the study of plant biology by giving his students a hands-on experience, but he was limited by space requirements and the short Colorado growing season.

The class solved these problems by employing new indoor gardening technologies. The students used state-of-the-art soil filled “pockets” made from recycled tires suspended on triangular frames which allowed them to grow plants vertically. More than 50 students participated in this initial project, and raised almost 500 vegetables, herbs and flowers.

As support of the project has grown within the Challenge community, the Wellness Committee spearheaded a plan to construct a large outdoor garden and classroom on the the school grounds. The larger garden will allow even more students to participate in the cultivation of a variety of plants, while enjoying the outdoor space.

Today, the Wellness Committee is collaborating with the University of Colorado Denver's Landscape Architecture program to design and build the garden.

The vision of the Cherry Creek Wellness Program is “to be the among the healthiest communities in the nation, together with our students, staff, parents and extended community.”

We feel that this garden will be a vital part of achieving that end.The students and parents have already benefited from the small indoor garden, and its outdoor expansion would provide even more opportunities for learning and community.

Won't you join us in creating an even more welcoming and hands-on learning environment for our school?