The Morris Hills HOPE Club put on their gardening gloves and gathered outside, working together to empty the greenhouse, throw away old materials, and renovate the garden for the new school year.

The Morris Hills garden continues to serve as a staple of HOPE Club, having been founded by club members several years ago. By building garden beds to plant crops and spending summers to maintain the garden, MH’s student gardeners heavily contributed toward the initiative’s success.

The garden was initially centered around the goal of giving back to the local community through fresh produce, harvested right at Morris Hills.

Every year, HOPE Club offers a Gardening GT for interested students, where they could have set time during the school day to tend to the garden in capacities such as watering the plants, testing the soil quality, and spearheading the produce donation initiative. Students have also explored hydroponics, the process of growing crops without soil.

In recent years, maintaining the garden hasn’t been a priority due to the large number of initiatives that HOPE Club manages and less overall interest. However, this year’s HOPE Club members aim to transform the garden into a welcoming space for students and staff.

Senior Julia Krieger, a co-lead of HOPE Club, said, “I’m excited to see how we can make the garden a fun location for people to sit down with their friends!”

“I love working with the other HOPE Club members to clean up the garden together and visually see our progress,” she said.

Julia planted seeds (three of which recently sprouted!) in small pots located in Room 216 – Mrs. Paulson’s classroom and HOPE Club’s meeting point every Tuesday. The goal is to ultimately transfer these plants to the garden.

Julia said, “I think the garden will make its comeback this year, and I’m proud of the HOPE Club for dedicating so much of their time to cleaning and organizing it!”