Grambling State News

By Angelita Faller

GRAMBLING, LA – Grambling State University began in 1901 as the Colored Industrial and Agricultural School, a school whose main goal was to educate the local agricultural community.

Grambling’s focus has since moved away from farming, but more than 100 volunteers from GSU and Grambling got together to plant a community garden project on April 20.

“This is how the university and the city got its roots, from farmers who wanted their children to get an education. We want to grow relationships between the university, the students and the community. We thought this would be a great way to come together,” Grambling Mayor Edward Jones said.

The community garden is a joint project between Grambling State University and the city of Grambling located on College Street. Grambling city provided the land and cleaned it up, while volunteers from the university and the community are maintaining the garden.

“It was a polluted area, and the city cleaned this lot. They put up the fence for us, and they plowed it for us,” said Rory Bedford, director of service learning at Grambling. “They made it suitable for planting, and it was a part of the Keep Louisiana Beautiful Project. The city and the university turned a wasted area into an area of beauty, where is provided vegetables for our community.”

An agricultural expert was on site to help the volunteers learn how to plant and grow crops. Rafash Brew, a regional horticulture specialist for the Louisiana State University AgCenter Research and Extension, taught volunteers about spacing between crops, how deep to plant seeds, choosing the right fertilizer and which crops grow best in different regions of Louisiana.

“Along I-20, community gardens are a big thing from the Shreveport area all the way over to the Mississippi River. I think we look at community gardens as a way to build camaraderie within the community. Today you have some students here who perhaps have never grown a garden before, and you want to teach them that they can grow a garden salad to eat for better nutrition,” Brew said.

Arseneaux Robinson, a senior elementary education major, was one of the volunteers who were teaching students “how to get their hands dirty.” He grew up tending to his grandfather’s garden and feels a garden is a great way to bring the community together.

“It brings unity to the community. We all lead different lives, but this is just one place where we can all come together and just bond as one. We are all here doing one cause, making the community look better,” Robinson said.

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