Come explore the world of school gardens and gardening in Tucson with the School Garden Workshop. For the first hour, participants will explore the award-winning school gardens at Manzo Elementary school with student docents and learn about how gardens are used for academic, culinary, and social-emotional enrichment. Following this presentation, there will be a hands-on gardening workshop led by the School Garden Workshop Director, Moses Thompson. This masterclass is aimed to equip participants with the knowledge, skills, and confidence needed to garden successfully in the desert southwest.
In 2006, Moses Thompson helped found the nationally recognized Manzo Ecology Program as a facet of his school counseling program utilizing the therapeutic nature of gardening to help meet the social and emotional needs of his students. Moses’s work has been featured in British Journal of Medicine, National Geographic, School Counselor Magazine, Arizona Illustrated and Edible Baja Arizona. In 2011 Moses was awarded Arizona School Counselor of the Year and in 2012 the US Green Building Council Green Schools Award. In 2014 Moses was recognized as a distinguished community leader with the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Course Format
Masterclasses are a newer feature of the SBS Community Classroom Program. Masterclasses are taught by an expert instructor as a one-time workshop-style class. The class will be interactive according to the subject matter and students will get the opportunity for Q&A with the instructor(s).
Attendance & Participation
Growing Wellness: Gardening in the Desert Southwest Masterclass is one course from the three-part Cultivating the Desert Series. You have the option to participate in any of the three separate courses (Creating Your Own Backyard Biodiversity, Growing Wellness: Gardening in the Desert Southwest and Cultivating Ancestral Foodways: Nixtamal Masterclasses) or save on tuition by attending the whole series. This bundling option is available at the time of registration. This course is limited to 25 participants.
Tuition
$30 per class or $85 for the full series.
Refunds
Refunds are available. They must be requested at least 48 hours before the start of the class. Individuals who register for the Masterclass bundle and need to arrange for cancelation and/or refund, please contact Stephanie Noriega at communitymatters@arizona.edu. A $10 administrative fee for each cancellation will apply.
Registration
Online registration for this course will open August 1, 2023 at 9 AM. After registration, participants will receive a receipt of registration. Subsequently, participants will receive class instructions 1 week before the start of the course.