By Carrington Davis
The Scene staff
Faculty and staff at Forest Park have had a gardening group for more than 10 years, and now students can get their hands dirty.
They have formed the St. Louis Community College Garden Club. So far, it has about 15 members.
“The purpose is to help people grow plants,” said Faculty Adviser Angela NewMyer, who also teaches biology at Forest Park. “Our group actually started a majority of our plants from seeds.”
The club grows an array of vegetables, such as tomatoes, onions, lettuce and hot and sweet peppers in a greenhouse on the fourth floor of East Wing.
They also produce herbs, such as rosemary, basil and cilantro, along with strawberries and flowers.
In recent weeks, club members have been filling planters in the Forest Park quad. That includes President Mac Moten, a general transfer student.
“I personally wanted to learn about gardening and for others to have a space to do the same,” he said.
Club members can take home produce, but the majority is grown for the Student Advocacy & Resource Center (SARC), a STLCC program dedicated to providing free food, clothing and personal items, as well as help with job-hunting and housing, to students in need.
SARC Manager Candice Swink said faculty and staff gardeners have been donating vegetables for at least two years.
“They bring stuff all the time,” said Sandi Conley, basic needs support specialist with SARC. “We get tomatoes, cucumbers and whatever it is that they’re growing in that garden.”
Forest Park students can get up to three food items a day in the SARC pantry, which is temporarily located in Student Center Room 191, off the cafeteria.
Faculty and staff have been gardening together since 2014. The following year, they created a butterfly garden outside the former A and B towers.
That garden was removed in 2019, when the college demolished the towers to make way for the Center for Nursing and Health Sciences. The club has no plans to bring it back, according to NewMyer.
The Garden Club meets twice a month on Tuesdays in the greenhouse, East Wing Room 440. Members also sponsor learning activities and projects, including a recent Garden Tea Party.
“(It was) meant just to be like a gathering for a decompression before finals week,” NewMyer said.