Amador Valley’s AP Environmental Science (APES) class gears up to get their hands dirty. Led by biology and environmental science teacher Robyn Fewster, the class prepares to completely renovate and revamp the garden nestled in between the E and D buildings.
“I’m going to be using the garden beds again this year with APES. We will be growing veggies, we will be growing some flowers, and we will be using the soil for our soil studies as well,” said Fewster.
Determined to get a headstart, this summer, Fewster came in a week or two before school started to pull the weeds out. Since Fewster did not have an APES class, the garden degraded in quality and richness. Combined with factors such as overgrown weeds, and bug infestations, the garden ultimately went to pot.
“The year before we did APES with the garden and it was great, we tried to build cages to help keep the critters out. [Then,] we could actually eat the vegetables instead of the critters, and that ended up being a problem with the weeding. It was really hard for us to get to the weeds,” said Fewster.
Despite the educational aspect of the project, the garden holds sentimental value to the APES teacher. Former botany teacher Mr. Simms curated the garden and passed it down to Fewster. Though weeds infested the garden in recent years, Fewster vowed to return it to its original glory.
“It was formerly from Mr. Simms. He used to teach botany, and so I inherited it from him. I also want to get it back into a nice working order for him. You know, I’m sad it got to this state that it’s in now,” said Fewster.
Fewster hopes that the garden will attract more students across campus to sign up for the environmental science class. However, the benefits are not exclusive to the APES classroom. She also offers the opportunity to earn an abundance of senior volunteer hours for those who help out.
“Hopefully more kids will be more interested in taking APES in the future – I think it’s a really valuable class. It’s made a big impact on them, so I hope to reach more kids”, said Fewster.
