Circle W Garden Project Takes Root

\"We need to go back to the basics and we need to begin now,\" said Adam Waxman `07, in a letter decrying the nation`s eating habits. \"We have lost our traditional food systems that were created to produce healthy, nurturing food.\" Both he and Pete Scully `07, after attending a senior seminar that focused on school-based gardens, proposed last school year that Hawken grow one such garden on the Upper School grounds. \"The idea,\" said Waxman, \"is to grow food for the cafeteria and for the local community, while educating ourselves about the benefits of eating fresh, local and sustainable food.\" That idea is now the Circle W project and a host of alumni, parents, faculty and students recently began preparing beds for planting as early as the spring. It`s a project that has the potential for as many learning opportunities as it does benefits for the environmental and students` health. Science teacher Kelly Clark commissioned her engineering class to do a feasibility study on composting to contribute to the garden and there a number of emerging project plans that could deepen the learning experience for not only students but the wider Hawekn community. If you`d like learn more about the project and become involved in this exciting initiative, visit the Circle W Web site (designed and executed by Brian Zeilinger `09) at www.circlewgarden.org.