Students at the Edmond P. Talbot Middle School began planting a community garden on April 29, 2010 in the center courtyard of the school as part of a project initiated by the LEADS (Leadership for Educational Attainment Developed through Service) project at UMass-Dartmouth. "We wanted to give the students a chance to grow vegetables, herbs and flowers as part of their educational experience," noted LEADS coordinator Jarrad Plante who, along with corps members from UMass-Dartmouth, put the gardens together with funds provided by the Healthy City Fall River community garden project. "Many of the middle school students have never grown anything themselves," he added. LEADS corps members have also created gardens at the Matthew J Kuss and James Madison Morton Middle Schools. The LEADS program is designed to have UMass students teach leadership to middle school students through community service projects, including food pantries, mural painting, poetry reading, and the collection of goods for the poor. Click here to see photos of a LEADS hunger project at the Kuss Middle School and here for photos of LEADS student involvement in a neighborhood market survey. For more information about the project, contact Jarred Plante.

(Top row, left) LEADS graduate student volunteer Nicole Moniz shows Community Garden Coordinator Nicole Fortier the planting plan for the three garden beds that she and LEADS coordinator Jarrad Plante constructed for the students. (Top row, center) Nikki shows the students the flowers, herbs and vegetables they will be planting. (Top row, right) A student writes down where each of the plants will go while Nikki and LEADS coordinator Jarrad Plante observe. (Middle row, left) Deonje Brathwaite and Kyle Bothelo dig the holes for the plants. (Middle row, right) Alyssa Moreno, Luis Santos and Brittnee LaRoux clear their bed of stones in preparation for planting. (Bottom row, left) LEADS volunteer Laurie Robertson-Lorant, Ph.D. of UMass-Dartmouth and Bridgewater State College checks the planting plan with John Texeira. (Bottom row, center) Roberto Perez and Deonje get instructions from Laurie on planting seeds. (Bottom row, right) Laurie shows Brianna Resendes how to take one of the herb plants out of its container.