The Connection

Fallon Keplinger, or Ms K., as her middle school students and fellow teachers call her, has only been at Thomas Jefferson Middle School in Arlington since October of 2014, but she’s jumped in with both feet. Her modern-day Victory Garden has brought the school community together in a variety of ways.

It started, like a lot of inspirational ventures, with a simple requirement, “I needed to get my kids out of the classroom,” Keplinger said. Her middle school students have a range of intellectual disabilities, and don’t always thrive when inside for long periods of time.

She asked for a plot in the garden that has been in various stages of development for the last few years, and stocked it with donations from Cultivate the City and George Mason Organic Gardens. With walkways made with the help of the tech ed program and found disassembled pickle crates (insects have an aversion to vinegar), she estimates the start-up cost has been around $15.

Her students have quickly made it one of their favorite aspects of the Life Skills curriculum she teaches. They have a collection of heirloom tomatoes that would make any farmer's market aficionado covetous. The children have researched the varieties and planted them throughout the patch of land.

The Thomas Jefferson school already had the garden space on its campus. The area continues to evolve, and Keplinger’s class is another new use of the outdoor campus. Last year, a planning committee put together a wish list, including more outdoor seating and creative additions to the space including an entryway designed by a former student and culturally significant areas that would reflect the student population.

Keplinger’s students have disabilities that prevent them from participating in the same classes and activities as students in the general population. This can lead them to be separated from the school community. The gardening project has tapped into the interdisciplinary nature of Thomas Jefferson’s programming and created opportunities for the children to work with different groups more often.

Fellow teacher Emily Calhoun’s class has assisted Keplinger’s class with the garden, and Calhoun has been delighted at the results. Her class is comprised of students with autism, and she has been intrigued and pleased by the interactions she’s seen between the two groups of students. Her students develop patience and empathy working with Keplinger’s students, and the teamwork has led to friendships being forged between the two classrooms.

The two classes took a trip to the botanical gardens in Washington, D.C., practicing such life skills as getting bus and metro cards and navigating the train system, while taking in the exhibits and seeing extreme gardening in action.

The interaction between Keplinger’s class and the rest of the school community doesn’t stop there. Deborah Mohammed, coordinator of the International Baccalaureate Program, shows the area maps math classes in the IB program have created. Color coded to show the different plantings, the area maps were created for Keplinger’s students as the “clients,” to choose their layout. As she showed off the plans the students had drawn up, Mohammed said of Keplinger and the garden project, “she has been the inspiration, going for it,” and says that other staff members and students have eagerly joined in, “can we join you,” has been the prevailing sentiment.

Sometimes, Keplinger said, “Farmer John,” a local gardening enthusiast who volunteers his time, will help with the Victory Garden and the students’ plantings.