New Student Club Garden Club Cultivates Compassion for Local Community


Covered in dirt and laced with sweat, a ring of North Greenville University students clasped each other’s hands as they prayed over a green plot of land located in a less- er-known section of NGU’s main campus on Foster Circle.


Their prayer at the Fall 2016 groundbreaking for the first garden started by NGU’s garden club — The Birds and the Bees — was that the fruits of their labors would feed the surrounding community one day.


“God’s given us a lot of good soil in South Carolina. It’s good to use it for a reason, and I know the Holy Spirit is going to bless this land so we can make life more abun- dant for others,” says Jacquelyn Stuart (expected ’20), outdoor leadership major and member of The Birds and the Bees.


The new club is the brainchild of Debra Rollins, business analyst at NGU and former urban farmer. Exhausted from working 80 hours per week in a fast-paced business set- ting, Rollins resigned and joined the NGU family in June 2016.


During a summer meeting at NGU, she and her colleagues began volleying ideas for enhancing student life, looking for a low-cost activity on campus for students to enjoy on the weekends.


Rollins’ hand immediately shot into the air. “I would like to start a garden club,” she said.


Her mind began racing with ideas to pioneer an entirely student-led garden club. For Rollins, the garden club


would be about learning how to work God’s creation and meet the needs of others at the same time.


“[The garden club] is designed to serve and give back to the community. And what goes hand in hand with that is the student initiative that goes behind it,” says Rollins.


Whether students use geometry to plan garden blueprints, marketing to promote club-sponsored events, or account- ing to manage club funds and expenses, Rollins believes the club offers a unique opportunity for students to de- velop their skillsets in whichever career paths they choose through the medium of gardening.


“Garden club isn’t just about planting,” says Matthew Mitchell (expected ’20), outdoor leadership major and club president. “It’s about community — giving back to the community and trying to teach people more about gar- dening so they will appreciate and seek its rewards.”


During its inaugural semester, the garden club at NGU established student leadership, started a main garden on campus, hosted a campus-wide plant sale fundraiser, and donated more than 15 boxes full of fresh produce to the foodbank at Highland Baptist Church in Taylors, S.C.


Future plans include expanding the main garden, creating raised beds that students can use to grow their own food, building a compost system, and establishing even more relationships with local churches that have food pantries. Club leadership plans to donate 100 percent of the pro- duce from the main garden.


For more information about student clubs and organiza- tions offered at NGU, visit ngu.edu/campusrec.


ngu.edu


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