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EVPP 480 students' raised garden bed construction at Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food and Agriculture

A group photo of a team with raised garden beds they built at a community farm


On October 31, twenty-three students from the EVPP 480: Sustainability in Action class built raised garden beds at the Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food & Agriculture in Alexandria, VA. The course instructors —  Department of Environmental Science and Policy faculty Jennifer Sklarew and Dann Sklarew --, along with GTA Nick Battaile, cheered on a friendly construction competition that resulted in eight completed beds. 

Students work in groups on their respective raised garden beds

The center installed the beds at the center's Route 1 Community Farm, where local community members can grow their own food. This project contributes to food sovereignty for residents in the Route 1 Corridor who lack space and resources for their own gardens. The students also learned about the center’s edible plants, sustainable farming methods, and the role of pollinators. 

The two sections of EVPP 480 comprise a Mason Impact and Mason Core course that serves as a capstone for students from Environmental Science and Policy, Environment and Sustainability Studies, and the Sustainability Studies minor. The course connects global sustainability challenges to local communities through team-based capstone projects that engage students with stakeholders on and off campus to address real world sustainability challenges co-defined by the students and their community partners, with support from the instructors. 

Three students putting together a raised garden bed

The Arcadia activities comprise a subset of the course’s required sustainability service learning hours. Other class service learning activities arranged by both Sklarew faculty members include a kayak and trail-based trash clean-up at Occoquan Regional Park, a bioblitz in the Forager’s Forest at George Mason's campus, and direct engagement with communities across the globe through web-based collaborations on issues ranging from food security to ocean protection. 

Photo credits for all but the group photo: Jennifer Sklarew;
photo credit for group photo: Shelby Hintz, On-Farm Education Manager, Arcadia Center.

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