Getting Rooted in Gardening is a project funded by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s Food and Agriculture Service-Learning Program under Award Number 2023-70026-40845.
Getting Rooted in Gardening
This research project has four components defined primarily by audience:
- Youth school/after-school programs
- Field trips/summer camps
- AmeriCorps members/interns/counselors-in-training
- Educators
The goal of this project is to enhance what students are learning in the classroom and to promote healthy lifestyle choices through agriculture education and to provide hands-on leadership opportunities.
Our aim is to provide programming, training, and resources for our community to connect science, math, nutrition, and gardening at schools and beyond.
Click through the tabs on the left to find out more about this project.
This webpage is part of Getting Rooted in Gardening, a project supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under Award Number 2023-70026-40845.
The content on this page has not been formally disseminated by the U. S. Department of Agriculture and should not be construed to represent any agency determination or policy.
Logic Model
Our logic model details the needs, inputs, activities, audience, outputs, outcomes, and assumptions for this project.
Youth School and After-school Programs
UT Gardens is currently recruiting Knox County first and fourth grade classes and after-school programs to participate in Getting Rooted in Gardening, a research project funded by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of interactive garden education in increasing students’ knowledge of gardening, plant science, nutrition, and food systems, and improving students’ ability to meet Tennessee state standards for math and science. All classes involved in the project will be asked to share their T-CAP Class Reports data to determine if the garden education impacted students’ success on state testing. Some classes involved will also be asked to host garden educators for a multi-visit garden education program, which will involve garden educators coming to the classroom to provide hands-on lessons aimed at enhancing what students are learning in the classroom and promoting healthy lifestyle choices through agricultural education, and empowering students to improve the well-being of their community.
If interested, please contact UT Garden Education Coordinator, Whitney Hale, at 865-974-4265 or email whitneyhale@tennessee.edu.
Field Trips and Summer Camps
AmeriCorps Members, Interns, and Counselors-in-training
The University of Tennessee Gardens has received funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to implement a project called Getting Rooted in Gardening.
Getting Rooted in Gardening is a research project supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under Award Number 2023-70026-40845.
This project is aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of interactive garden education in increasing students’ knowledge of gardening, plant science, nutrition, and food systems, and improving students’ ability to meet Tennessee state standards for math and science. It has a three-pronged reach that includes educators, young adults/teenagers, and youth. By creating opportunities for growth and understanding for each participant group, we hope to increase numbers of youth receiving gardening and nutrition education instruction, improve community health, improve access to gardens and gardening materials, increase diversity in agriculture, and have a greater number of children impacted by UT Gardens outreach.
We have funding to hire (AmeriCorps members, Counselors in Training, and Interns) as (AmeriCorps members – a year-round staff member, or Counselors in Training/Interns as summer camp staff). All program staff will participate in weekly check-ins, complete a project and present the results of the project to UT Gardens staff, and write a social media post on a career related to agriculture. You will be asked to complete horticultural tasks in the Kitchen Garden along with your other position duties.
Information that will be shared when interviews are conducted.
Evaluation of this program will include your feedback as program staff. Overall evaluation results will be reported to National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture. Your name or other identifiable information will not be shared as part of the evaluation reporting process.
Due to the nature of the project and what you would be brought on to do, we cannot guarantee complete privacy or that your information would not be shared. To mitigate this concern, we will store any evaluations, hard copies of projects, etc. in a secure location either through a trusted cloud source or in a locked cabinet.
If you have questions or concerns about Getting Rooted in Gardening in relation to your potential employment, please contact Whitney Hale by emailing whitneyhale@tennessee.edu or calling her at (865)974-4265.
Educators
If you are interested in having your class or school participate in Getting Rooted in Gardening, please contact Whitney Hale at whitneyhale@tennessee.edu. Be sure to check out the Resources tab to the left to find resources you may consider using in your classroom.
Our Team
Getting Rooted in Gardening is led by Dr. Derrick Stowell, Education and Horticultural Therapy Program Administrator, and Whitney Hale, Education Coordinator, at UT Gardens, Knoxville. Email either of them with questions, comments, or concerns about this project.
Agriculture and Natural Resources
Agriculture and Natural Resources
Our Partners
This project would not be possible without the support of various community partners. We have received letters of support from the following organizations. Thank you to our supportive community!
Support has been received from the following:
Important Documents
Resources
On this page we will share resources we have created with funding from this grant.
Have you ever wondered what we all do at UT Gardens? Or what jobs are available for people who like plants? We created a video series to help answer those questions! Click on each tab to learn more.
This video is about Holly Jones, a horticulturalist at UT Gardens, Knoxville.
This video is about Natalie Bumgarner, an extension specialist at University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture.
This video is about Amanda Spangler, a lecturer at the University of Tennessee.
A great resource to learn more about green industry careers is Seed Your Future. On their website, you can take a quiz to find out which careers may be a good fit for you. It’s also a great place to learn about college programs like the Department of Plant Sciences here at the University of Tennessee!
Photos of Our Work in this Project
