Community Connection

My neighbors just got a puppy, so naturally I wanted to take the new dog for a walk.. and why not head to the garden?  I walked the new lab to the garden and was thrilled when I heard the giggling of children by the church.  As soon as I approached, the kids saw the puppy and bolted towards me.  I sat with them outside of the fence as the 4 kids asked what the puppy’s name was, if they could pet him, etc.  After a few minutes of playing with the dog, the kids began to get interested in why I was at the plot.  I explained to them that for a class project my classmates and I were growing a garden.  I then asked the kids what their names and ages were and was happy to find out that they all attend Broughal Middle School, located right on our campus.  I walk past Broughal almost every morning on my way to class and am overwhelmed by the constant chatter of eager middle schoolers.  Being a part of the masters program for Education, I am familiar with the socioeconomic dynamics of most of the students that attend Broughal and was not only happy, but also surprised that these 3 boys and 1 girl were so interested in our garden.  This reminded me of the post that Sara blogged about earlier.  Whenever people ask why our plot is in the heart of south side Bethlehem and not over the mountain at Goodman, I am reminded of the importance of being a part of the community.  As a student at Lehigh, I think that our student body is very separated and divided from the town we live in… Princeton review constantly ranks Lehigh as one of the worst college to town ratios which I think is extremely devastating.  I am not too familiar with Bethlehem, or the history, but from what I can see, a group of individuals from higher socio economic backgrounds somewhat came and took over with their admission to the school.  We pretty much in general disregard the people who live in the town year round, and pay little if any attention to the locals.  Trust me, I know Bethlehem is not NYC, or Greenwich, Connecticut, or any of the other prestigious cities that many of the students come from to attend here, but I do think that there is potential in south side Bethlehem and it just takes a little more effort from everyone living here to start the improvement.  I’m not saying that our garden is the remedy for this town, but what I am saying is that I saw how these 4 children’s faces lit up when I was talking to them about college, academics and our garden and I think that any outreach to the community we live in is a start towards improvement.  By the end of my hour or so with the puppy at the garden, the kids were asking when they could help out next since I did not have any of our tools.  I do not think it was so much about gardening that intrigued them, I honestly think it was the beginning of a relationship that they began to build with a college student that lives in their town.   Without the garden, I don’t believe I would have met these 4 kids… It really made my day seeing how excited they were about our plots of dirt and I really hope to see them again soon.