'You all are the future': Corpus Christi students celebrate restored community gardens

Corpus Christi Mayor Paulette Guajardo and members of Reliant Energy learned about gardening and sustainability after unveiling the recently restored community gardens at the Corpus Christi Montessori School Friday.

The project is a result of the Mayor's Community Gardens Restoration Program, powered by a $50,000 donation from Reliant Energy.

The school received $8,000 from the donation to make repairs and improvements to the garden, including an outdoor harvesting area, irrigation system, rainwater collection tanks and new native plants.

Guajardo said Winter Storm Uri caused havoc across the city and state, destroying community gardens in the area.

"Without that generous donation (from Reliant), we wouldn't be here," Guajardo said. "It all trickles down, and, in the end, it trickles down to our children being taught something from something that was terrible. The freeze caused a lot of negativity, but there is always positivity."

The school’s community garden serves as an educational opportunity to teach students about sustainable food sources, healthy nutrition habits, project management and life skills.

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Tevin Gray, an outdoor educator for the school, said the winter freeze was a hurdle but was easy to overcome.

"If y'all could see what the garden looked like eight months ago after the freeze, we were devastated because it looked like a bomb went off," Gray said. "Everything was brown and crusty and flattened to nothing. Even things we expected to survive didn't."

In Gray's grant application, he said the experience helped his students learn about resilience. Guajardo said the following words from the application moved her.

"With the plants dying off, we did not get the productive spring season we would typically have with students," Gray said in his application. "However, it did give us an entire new set of things to teach. Like the resilience of our native plants that continued to come back long after we were sure they were past saving, and how we can not control nature but we can control our reaction to it. The lessons we learned during and after the freeze will stick with our students forever."

Leanne Schneider, Reliant's director of community relations, said the gardens were beautiful and she learned some tips on gardening for her own backyard. She said while Reliant is known as an electricity provider, the company is passionate about giving back to communities.

"When we heard about what happened with all the community gardens after the winter storm, we knew we needed to do something with the mayor and help with this program," Schneider said. "To see some of the results of what's happening here today is really impactful and meaningful. Community gardens cultivate life and learning and gardening is healing for the mind and soothing."

Gray led Guajardo and Schneider to the second community garden at the school and had him and his students teach them about "hands-in-the-dirt" education.

Students and Gray explained about vermicomposting (worm composting), square foot gardening and how to cook organic meals from the gardens.

While the gardens are for the community, school spokesperson Terri Morris-Canales said events to bring in community members have not been set up this year due to COVID-19.

"Going forward, I know our vision of the future is to become a hub for the community," Morris-Canales said. "We would love to have community members be able to come help. We're looking to redo our play space and add more plants in the garden. We really want it to be more beautiful and educational for all."

Before guests parted their separate ways, the rest of the Corpus Christi Montessori School students surprised Guajardo with signs, plants and smiles.

"I am so proud of what y'all are doing and I'm very impressed with the knowledge you are learning," Guajardo said. "You all are the future."

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John Oliva covers education and community news in South Texas. Consider supporting local journalism with a subscription to the Caller-Times.

This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Corpus Christi students, mayor celebrate restored community gardens