GVCA is proud to support a unique and worthy program at Abraxas High School: the Abraxas Garden located on the school’s former tennis courts on Pomerado Road.
Developed as a way to incorporate core curriculum in a student-led, hands-on learning environment, the Abraxas Garden won 2 National Gardening Awards in 2018: One for Community Beautification and the other was the Kellogg Civic Achievement Award. The Garden alsowon 1st Place in California for the Community Impact Award.
Since the Gardens began, over 5,000 lbs. of fresh produce grown at the garden has been donated to families in need in the community. They also have started a Farmers Market to raise money to keep the Garden running. The Farmers Market is open the first Wednesday of every month at Elements Café at the Poway Unified District Office. The market is supported by donations in which visitors ‘pay what you can’ and all proceeds go directly back into the garden for seeds, fish food, and other needs that arise.
Under the leadership of Bob Lutticken, Biology, Aquaponics & Agriculture teacher at Abraxas, students just completed a solar powered vertical herb garden (pictured here) which was made possible through a grant from the GVCA.
The Abraxas Garden is run through classroom curriculum, and over 100 students work in the garden throughout the school year including our Transition Program which includes students with special needs.
According to Lutticken, “This vertical garden runs 24/7/365 off the grid, and re-uses the same water over and over. The Vertical Garden was built with wheels so we can display it on other school campuses in the district, allowing us to teach other students about water conservation and the flexibility of solar power. Students will be building a twin model of this unit this quarter to expose a different group of students to this type of farming technology.“