Northern Virginia Master Gardeners recognized for youth education programs
Extension Master Gardeners received the 2024 Governor’s Volunteerism and Community Service Award for a program focused on horticulture education within the public school system.
The Extension Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia have been honored with a 2024 Governor’s Volunteerism and Community Service Award for their Youth Education Program, an initiative that brings horticulture education to local elementary school students.
The Youth Education Program (YEP) serves schools and other youth organizations in Alexandria, Arlington County, and Falls Church by bringing in Extension Master Gardener volunteers to teach the fundamentals of gardening and environmental sustainability. Among their tasks, volunteers work with children to teach content such as growing food, building healthy soil, or planting native species and work with other adults who oversee youth gardens to provide research-based garden management practices and curriculum assistance.
“YEP’s genuine care for our community of learners, carefully crafted lessons, and commitment to the ideals of the gardening program have allowed our entire school community to flourish,” said Ashley Snyder, a teacher at Alice West Fleet Elementary School.
The key to the program’s success is an easy-to-understand curriculum focused on Virginia’s Standards of Learning curriculum, which was developed by retired teachers turned Extension Master Gardeners Anne Reed and Debbie Keefe.
“I know that YEP has had the same impact in numerous other schools in our community,” said Snyder. “The Master Gardeners’ program propelled the rejuvenation of our outdoor learning spaces by providing critical knowledge of sustainable gardening, planting timelines, and sheer manpower.”
Kirsten Conrad, a Virginia Cooperative Extension agent in Arlington County, credits the program giving students an example to follow as an important part of its popularity.
“This program offers Arlington County students a chance to get outdoors and learn from community role models,” she said. “It has been very successful, and we now have more demand for the program than we know what to do with.”
In addition to facilitating and expanding outdoor education in schools and other youth programs, the program is also impactful for the Extension Master Gardener volunteers who get the chance to work with children.
“This program not only supports the social-emotional health of Arlington and Alexandria students by providing outdoor enrichment, but it has also changed the lives of our volunteers,” said Conrad. “This is a truly impactful program.”
Extension Master Gardeners are trained volunteer educators who bring the resources of Virginia’s land-grant universities to the people of the commonwealth. Visit the Extension Master Gardener Program website for more information or to become an Extension Master Gardener.
