Many different groups at the College will be able to take part in the different stages of the project including: Master of Environmental Studies Student Association (MESSA), Urban Agriculture (UA), GML Community Outreach Research and Learning (CORAL) Program, CofC Grounds Department, Clemson Extension and Ashley Cooper Stormwater Education Consortium. The composter provided by this grant will be supplied with organic material from the on-site kitchen and grounds maintenance. The first crop will consist of native plants, vegetables and herbs. The produce collected from the garden will be donated to a food shelter to benefit the local community. The garden will serve as an educational tool for the public and students and as a potential research resource for lab-based instruction or research projects.

Planting the Green Teaching Garden at Grice will serve to strengthen the ties between the marine lab’s remote location and the downtown campus. It will provide unique opportunities to expand existing educational and outreach efforts. In addition to GML hosting hundreds of visitors annually, the Grice CORAL program works to educate more than 2400 people about marine biology each year. Multiple student groups have expressed interest in helping with GTG construction, upkeep, and outreach efforts. Faculty members of the School of Science and Mathematics have expressed interest in incorporating the GTG into their teaching curriculum.

GML and the MBSGA have a history of using interdisciplinary approaches to science education. During the recent SEWE event, we partnered with a local gallery to provide an aquarium exhibit featuring both live animals from local estuaries as well as the artwork of select Lowcountry wildlife artists. This innovative platform offers many possible collaborative opportunities with other schools at the College including Art, Business, Education, Humanities and Social Sciences.