Out in Marjory’s Garden, the music begins to play and the work is starting. The Sunday morning weather is hot and humid, as students begin digging their shovels into the dirt, planting new seeds.

Marjory’s Garden Club meets every Sunday from 9–10:30 a.m. to complete projects in the garden located behind the 1500 and 900 buildings. These projects range from painting to pressure washing to building new sheds, and they change every week depending on what needs to be done.

The club is sponsored by astronomy teacher Kyle Jeter and biology teacher Branden Davis. Other teachers also frequently volunteer on Sundays and work on projects in their respective zones. For instance, chemistry teacher Sean Simpson runs the hydroponics zone and makes sure to take care of its upkeep.

The garden is made up of various zones: the flower beds, vegetable garden, Everglades, hydroponics, food forest, crop fields, butterfly garden and classroom. Each officer runs their own zone to make sure it is maintained and well-kept.

“I cover the flower beds in the front of the garden, and my work usually involves maintaining the beds and occasionally planting new flowers as the older ones die,” Garden Club Co-President Luana Maldaner Kunzler said. “I water the beds outside garden days as they need a lot of moisture during the hotter days. I love the garden. The garden has been a big part of my life for the whole four years I spent at Douglas, and it led me to meet countless people and build friendships with countless more.”

On occasion, garden meetings invite members of the community to speak on environmental issues and educate students on various aspects of gardening and conservation. The Coral Springs Garden Club members have given lessons with interactive elements and engaging presentations about weeds and invasive species after work days.

The club is largely student-led, where officers and even enthusiastic volunteers can propose their own additions to the garden. Armed with a price point and a plan, officers can work on whatever projects they believe will help the betterment of the garden. In the past, this has included building newly raised beds for plants, planting an orchard of trees and even building an entire hydroponics system.

“I feel proud of my contributions to the garden,” Garden Club Co-President Riley Walsh said. “Making these projects and working on things throughout my years is just something gratifying, because I can walk through the garden and say, I did that, I made that. I was the one who was able to contribute to making that. When I hear someone talking good about the garden, or good about certain things, I feel gratified because I know that I was someone who helped make the garden a pleasant place to be.”

The garden welcomes new additions each time an opportunity presents itself. This year, the club was able to secure an extension to the plot of land that was allotted to the garden. This enabled them to expand further towards the baseball fields, where they planted a new orchard. Students spent countless days early this year working in the new orchard to ensure the mulch was placed and the trees could thrive.

In previous years, the garden has been open during both A and B lunches on Wednesdays for students to enjoy. However, due to this year’s construction, the garden has remained closed during lunches for students. It was also closed throughout the summer, which in the past has been a crucial time for volunteers and officers to develop and work on important projects.

Students are able to volunteer in the garden whether they are members of the club or not. With a membership, students receive a garden shirt and the opportunity to run for officer positions if they so choose. Other volunteers, such as National Honor Society members, also come frequently to participate for service hours.

“It’s definitely one of the biggest things for us, to make sure that students and teachers feel comfortable at the garden,” Jeter said. “It’s a great thing for everyone’s mental health, to be able to come out and work on projects or during lunch. I absolutely love the garden.”

The club was initially founded in 2016. The district allotted a plot of land behind the school’s 1500 building to Jeter and Simpson after the portables were removed from that area. The land was mainly concrete and metal pipes following the portables’ removal, so the first few years of the garden were mainly spent removing that concrete and making the land suitable for gardening. The zones were then created year by year and the garden expanded.

The garden has since become a center of healing and work to give back to the community. Each year on Feb. 14, the club hosts the biggest team of volunteers—sometimes even reaching 100 people—to provide service to the garden for the annual Day of Service and Love. Student volunteers are able to build benches and participate in other volunteer activities to help improve the garden and engage in service.

Marjory’s Garden Club has provided a fun environment for students to spend time with friends, while also enabling them to create their own projects which benefit them as well as the garden. In the coming years, the teachers have more plans for what is in store for additions to the garden. Students can attend interest meetings at the end of this year and next year to consider attending as a volunteer and a club member, and officer meetings will take place later this year.

This story was originally published in the May 2025 Eagle Eye print edition.