Senior Andrew Carson founded the Garden Club last school year. As membership grew, so have Carson’s ideas of ways they can make an impact on campus. Carson recently received a $500 grant for the club to help their ideas become a reality.
Q: Why do you want to start Garden Club?
Carson: “I started Garden Club because I care a lot about the environment and I wanted to give people at school a place to share the hobby that I love so much.”
Q: What do you do in the club?
Carson: “We talk about environmental sustainability and we have gardening beds that we plant things in, like flowers and vegetables.”
Q: What’s your favorite part about the club?
Carson: “My favorite part about the club is the community around it. It’s the people that make it what it is.”
Q: How many people are in the club?
Carson: “94.”
Q: Describe how the club grew.
Carson: “The club really grew because of the amazing work done by the officers for community outreach and our social media manager.”
Q: How has the growth of the club impacted you?
Carson: “The growth of the club has gotten us a lot of support around the campus, not just from the students, but also from the faculty. It’s allowed us to have permission to plant things in larger areas. Without the support, it wouldn’t be possible.”
Q: How has the club made a difference in the school?
Carson: “The club has planted flowers in the front of the school. It has helped beautify the campus. We haven’t done that much yet, but, you can’t really plant stuff in Texas November. You just can’t do that. So it’s like, you have to start in January, February. So I’m just kind of buying time fundraising, so we can have money to actually start planting stuff come January and February.”
Q: How has the club impacted you?
Carson: “This club has shown me how cool it is to have the support of everyone at school around a simple idea. It just shows that one person can take an idea and with the support of other people it can turn into something a lot bigger, which is really neat.”
Q: What has been a memorable moment with the club?
Carson: “For me, I think the most memorable moment was receiving the grant from the Rotary Club of Lake Houston.”
Q: How much grant money did you receive?
Carson: “$500”
Q: What is the grant you received for?
Carson: “It’s going to be used for, specifically, the gardening beds at the front of the school, planting flowers in there and removing dead stuff. So, removing old bushes and things.”
Q: What was your initial reaction to receiving the grant?
Carson: “I was really, really excited when I saw the email. I was pumped. I was like, this is really massive for the gardening club. It just shows that, like, you know, it’s not just recognized at the school, but it’s also recognized in our community as something worthwhile, which I thought was neat.”
Q: How is this grant going to impact the club?
Carson: “It’s going to give us the funding necessary to complete a lot of the beautification at the front of the school. I mean, we had set out early to do that, but receiving funding is difficult, so the fact that we got a solid chunk of change is amazing. It’s super impactful game changer.”
Q: What are your goals for the Garden Club and for the grant?
Carson: “I want to make it so that we have a well-organized flowery space in front of the school that makes people happy as they enter it, because at the end of the day, although we’re trying to promote environmental sustainability and a green future, we also want to make sure that our school looks really nice. I mean, that’s what flowers are for.”
