On October 16, 2021 San Miguel High School President & CEO and Sophomore Biology Teacher Brother Jack Henderson accompanied 16 students for a day of learning in the field. This wasn't an actual field, but the field of sustainability and water harvesting. Starting off the day at Tucson's Watershed Management Group's location in midtown, the students learned about desert landscaping and water ponding as ways to conserve the over half million gallons of water that run-off annually from the school's campus.
While a long-term goal is to implement a full-fledged sustainable landscaping project with gardens and basins, this is on hold for a number of reasons. In the meantime, there is significant support to find a solution, one of which are ponding basins. Over the course of several hours, the group learned about these basins, how they are created, and how they can help. Eventually the students will be able to do demonstrations for the school's neighbors with the kits they received during their visit.
Armed with information, the group boarded a bus and headed to Tucson's Mission Gardens, where they could witness and hear about heritage gardens complete with native plants, vegetables, and fruits that are harvested annually.
The next scene for this 3-act day was then a visit to Manzo Elementary School where ponding basins and heritage gardens were fully implemented. Going from each of these places gave the students an opportunity to learn about water and food harvesting to seeing it in action at an area school. The information learned will help in, and out, of the classroom as students begin to plan these projects for San Miguel High School and perhaps in the community at their own homes.
