Hundreds of Students Spend Earth Day Volunteering at New Urban Farm and Other Areas

Hundreds of students, MCPS and county leaders, and community and business partners attended an Earth Day groundbreaking and volunteering event at Loiederman Middle School and Weller Road Elementary School. 

The REACH Hub at Loiederman is being developed by MCPS in partnership with the Charles Koiner Conservancy for Urban Farming.The hub will support food production and climate resiliency, as well as serve as an accessible resource for over 17,000 students (89 percent minority) from 20 school locations within two miles, including four schools within walking distance.

As part of “Out-of-School Time” programming, hundreds of middle and high school students, along with MCPS staff and volunteers from Habitat for Humanity, will spend time building portions of the farm, rehabbing a courtyard garden, planting bio retentions at Loiederman and at nearby Weller Road Elementary School. 

The urban farm was not the only place where students spent the morning and afternoon volunteering this Earth day. About 51 students from Wheaton High School’s National Honor Society helped clear more than an acre of thick, thorny brush in the area once known as Avery Road Colored Cemetery. The City of Rockville will bring in ground penetrating radar and use magnetometry to identify the graves. Research will be conducted on the individuals with the hope of turning this area into a learning and educational experience for the public.