Tan Holdings’ Learning Garden initiative moves to Garapan public school

  Garapan Elementary School students are now growing their own corn, tomatoes, and eggplants within campus grounds after the Home of the Mallards became the third and last school to be sponsored by Tan Holdings for its Learning Garden initiative.

Tan Holdings president Jerry Tan led sixth graders under Peter Loken and Asap Ogumoro as well as members of the school’s Farm Club in planting the seeds and saplings on Wednesday, which school officials also touted as the revival of the school garden.

Tan Holdings launched the Learning Garden initiative in an effort to promote, among others, food sustainability, nutrition awareness, and environmental stewardship. It is patterned after school learning gardens in the U.S. mainland.

The initiative encourages partnerships between private companies and schools to create gardens aimed at educating students on the importance of farming and agriculture in the CNMI by giving them hands-on instruction on how to grow their own produce.

Tan Holdings launched Learning Garden in February with the objective of sponsoring it in three public schools: Dandan, Oleai, and Garapan elementary schools. The company hopes that other businesses on island will step up to the plate to sponsor one or more schools to uphold the value of farming in the community.

“Farming is always a great thing,” Tan told his young audience. “Agriculture is very important to every country because we need to eat. Somebody has to be a farmer so why not some of us? I wish you all the best of luck and to enjoy this learning garden. Please invite me back so we can enjoy what you plant.”

Providing assistance during the event were representatives of the Northern Marianas College Cooperative Research Extension and Education Service, the Environmental Natural Resources Organization or ENRO also from NMC, and Mariana Islands Nature Alliance.

Wednesday’s planting activity was cut short owing to a passing rainfall. Still, the students maintained their high spirits in anticipation of all the crops they could harvest.

“I planted eggplant and tomato and it’s a good feeling,” said fourth grader Aditya Rai.

Rai, 9, said he plans to check on the garden to ensure that the plants in the garden would soon grow crops.

“I’ll take good care of it by making sure it gets enough water and sunlight,” he said.

School principal Paulette Sablan expressed her appreciation on behalf of the students and the parent-teacher association for allowing the island’s biggest public elementary school to take part in the Learning Garden program.

“We’re really excited and we can’t wait to harvest these crops and invite you guys in for a feast,” she said.

Sablan said in an interview that the school’s sizeable garden, which used to have banana and coconut trees as well as an assortment of flowering plants, had been idle for about eight years.

The revival of the garden, Sablan noted, will be more valuable since it’s a student-initiated project.

“They have that responsibility of maintaining the crops and ensuring that the crops don’t die, that they’re healthy and big enough to be eaten. The end product is gathering all the crops and creating healthy meals out of it,” Sablan told Saipan Tribune.

Since Garapan Elementary School is situated in the business district and away from farmlands, Sablan said the Learning Garden will make the students experience farming at school.

“We’re really grateful that they provided this opportunity to students,” said Sablan.