Beautiful Celebration of Flourishing For All

On April 24, people from across campus and Waco gathered for the second annual celebration of the Baylor Community Garden (BCG) as a nucleus for learning across disciplines, cultivating care for the living world through art and cultural events, and relieving hunger on campus and in the community.  Normally held at the BCG itself, rain moved the party inside to McMullen-Connally Faculty Center, but the garden was refreshed and everyone enjoyed a wonderful evening reflecting on the many ways students, faculty, and community members have come together to pursue mutual flourishing on campus and in Waco.  A delicious meal prepared by Chartwells Higher Education, Baylor's dining service, incorporated ingredients from the BCG and was sponsored by Student Government.  While dining, guests engaged in conversation in response to thoughtful questions  on cards set into floral centerpieces at each table.  Desserts were garnished with flowers from a pollinator garden recently established at the BCG by students.  Following dinner and formal remarks, guests were invited to visit demonstration stations created by graduates from a Community Composters course taught by Emily Hills, Director of Mission Waco's Urban REAP (Renewable Energy and Agriculture Project).

Programming at the BCG and sister sites on campus is led by Andrea Valdez, the Community Garden and Urban Agriculture Outreach Program Manager, under supervision of Dr. Joshua King, Director of Environmental Humanities, and in collaboration with the Office of Sustainability.  Ms. Valdez and Dr. King led the evening's program.  They expressed gratitude for student leaders of the BCG and for the participation of the BCG, Environmental Humanities, and other Baylor programs in a Waco's wider ecosystem of education and community nourishment, particularly through the Sustainable Community and Regenerative Agriculture Project (SCRAP).  SCRAP is a collective of Baylor programs, Waco nonprofits, churches, and the City of Waco that is growing healthy food and environments for all in Central Texas through community-based gardening, composting, community education, and community-engaged research and learning.  SCRAP is committed to creating a thriving, just, and resilient local food system that promotes care for the environment, celebrates culture, and ensures access to healthy food for all.  Several other SCRAP team members were in attendance, as was Baylor's Provost, Nancy Brickhouse, Dean Lee Nordt of the College of Arts and Sciences, Dean John Singletary of the Diana Garland School of Social Work, Dean Jeffrey Archer of Baylor Libraries, Director Charlie Walter of the Mayborn Museum, and many more supporters from across campus and Waco.

Dr King and Ms. Valdez also honored several key faculty contributors who will be leaving Baylor this semester: Doug Nesmith, soil scientist and Lab Coordinator for Environmental Science who helped found gardening programs at the BCG and has taught gardening classes there for many years; and Dr. Matthew Whelan of the Honors College, who has been an affiliated faculty member of Environmental Humanities and taught profoundly engaging classes on environmental ethics, Latin American theology, and agroecology (the latter with Doug Nesmith).  Doug Nesmith is retiring and Dr. Whelan is joining Duke's Divinity School.

In under two years, the BCG has involved nearly 3,000 students, faculty, and staff in its programming and events.  It has become a vital center of an edible learning landscape on campus with multiple connections to the wider work of SCRAP and other community organizations. This would have been impossible without the dedicated and creative leadership of program manager Andrea Valdez in partnership with Environmental Humanities and the Office of Sustainability. 

Highlights from the 2024-2025 academic year include...

• Regularly involved 17 student groups from across campus in volunteer programs
• Supported 10 class projects and directed student projects from disciplines as diverse as Environmental Science, English, Engineering, Social Work, and Sociology
• Hosted 12 workshops and tours for classes
• Supported 7 additional partnerships with Baylor organizations ranging from Student Government to Chartwells Dining and community organizations ranging from Church Under the Bridge to Creative Waco
• Held 8 events cultivating kinship and compassion with the living world in partnership with Environmental Humanities and the Office of Sustainability, such as Celebrating Our Kinship with Creation, Wings of Migration: Monarchs and Cultures in Movement, and Pollinator Appreciation Day
• Organized 3 community and school educational tours for participants in La Puerta's Health Course directed by April Strickland, Better Living for Texans Extension Agent; K-12 students from The Humanist Academy in Dallas, TX; and agricultural leaders in the community and surrounding region for April 22 symposium with nonprofit Global Revive
• Offered 3 additional community workshops and outreach events on composting, container gardening, and reducing food waste in partnership with Baylor departments, McLennan County Master Gardeners, and Chartwells Dining and Moonshot Composting
• Created a pollinator garden that secured certifications as a conservation site by Texan By Nature, a Monarch Waystation by Monarch Watch, and contributed to Baylor’s certification for Bee Campus USA
• Contributed to Baylor’s recognition by Tree Campus USA through the installation of a new orchard
• Established a greenhouse and embarked on a mural creation project in partnership with Creative Waco through funding from Student Government
• Created an internship opportunity for a graduate student from Sierra Leone, Paul Conteh, in partnerships with the Theology, Ecology, and Food Justice program
• Created an adopt-a-bed program for 12 students to register for care (and supervised training) in growing their own food, generating a wide variety of culturally relevant produce grown by international students
• Diverted thousands of lbs. of food waste to create compost that nurtured 30 culturally and seasonally relevant varieties of produce
• Provided fresh produce to the Store, Baylor’s food pantry for students, and increased distribution and garden education outreach to community organizations, such as Family of Faith Worship Center and Isaiah 117 House
• Renewed and reorganized a sister garden at Teal Residential College
• Mentioned in 15 stories in Baylor and Waco newspapers, media outlets, and radio stations

Click here for a full report of major recent milestones.