Young gardeners planting seeds of success at IDEA Rundberg

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Idea Rundberg Academy and College Preparatory in Austin is teaching students the value of getting in the dirt and planting vegetables.

The school is teaming up with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension to certify 126 students at the school in the Junior Master Gardener Program.

“Whatever we are growing could be useful to the cafeteria,” said Carlos Jimenez, child nutrition program farmer for Idea Rundberg. “So, we are growing general greens like kale, carrots and lettuce.”

According to Jimenez, the students took one class each week for eight weeks to complete the program.

During the program, each student learned how to plant vegetables, watering techniques, weeding them, and what goes into making them thrive. Plus, he said they get to try the food as well.

“I would say we encourage them to eat them cause sometimes they don’t really like veggies so that way when they see them growing they will at least try it,” Jimenez said.

Elias Martinez, a sixth grader at the school, was excited to share what he learned.

“I learned about farming that if we don’t harvest the crops they might turn bad and we also have to water and soil them,” Martinez said. ”I learned that plants have cells and I never knew that.”

Another student, Nathan Cabrera, shared the freedom he felt from gardening.

“I enjoyed it a lot because you get to express what you want to do with the plants and it’s very fun to plant,” Cabrera said.

All students ended the program by receiving their certification in a small ceremony.