June 3 – The College of Agriculture and Human Sciences, under the leadership of Dean Gerard D’Souza, has embarked on providing experiential learning activities for CAHS student as it relates to providing healthy, nutritious produce to the surrounding community while also igniting the passion of students here on Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU) campus through its Community Garden project.  The Community Garden project is a collaborative effort between CAHS, the College of Business, and the City of Prairie View.

The project was an ongoing effort from the start of the 2019 spring semester but came to a standstill in March. Toward the end of the month, the annual Honors Convocation, hosted this year by CAHS, welcomed many family members and alumni to celebrate their student being recognized at the ceremony. Michael and Adams, brothers of Chandra Adams who serves as a Program Assistant in the Cooperative Agricultural Research Center, happened to attend the convocation for Michael’s daughter Leigh Adams, a sophomore Agriculture major.  After Chandra introduced her brothers to several students and staff who were currently working on the Community Garden project, the brothers, both CAHS alumni, felt compelled to help.

Right after the convocation ceremony, the Adams brothers met with Program Specialist Rafash Brew and CAHS Community Garden co-leader,  Laura Carson, to gain more information and plan out the remainder of the project. On that same day, the brothers went to work on the project by generously donating composting mixture and assisting the students in building planter boxes. Over two days of work, the Adams’ supported the project, but most importantly actively engaged with the students by demonstrating the use of necessary tools to build the boxes.  The students were shown and practiced using various design methods along with standard building practices. Afterward, the interested PVAMU students helped to construct the “PV” designed planter boxes that will be used for raised bed gardening.

Michael graduated from PVAMU with a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture and now works with U.S. Customs and Border Protection at the Port of Houston. Michael’s extraordinary commitment to PVAMU is deep-rooted as he indicated that he has always has been willing to volunteer when it comes to his beloved Prairie View. As an alumnus, he has consistently reached out to support and mentor the next generation of proud, productive Panthers.

Samuel also graduated from PVAMU with a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture and works at the university’s Center for Instructional Innovation and Technology Services. While he is known for his phenomenal work in computer technology, audio/video support and recording major events for the university, he has a level of creativity that expands from mentoring students within his department to helping students design posters to present at research symposium competitions.  Samuel believes that students are first. “In serving the students, we provide an immeasurable service to our university and the citizens of the State of Texas.”

This work is supported by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, 1890 Extension Formula projects under Section 1444.

Written by Laura Carson, PhD and Taelor Smith

Laura Carson

 

Laura Carson, PhD
Director of Research Compliance and Undergraduate Research, Research Scientist
lecarson@pvamu.edu
(936) 261-5010