---
title: Growing Vegetables—and Curiosity
date: 2026-05-06T05:30:00-04:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/growing-vegetables-and-curiosity"
section: Articles
---
# Growing Vegetables—and Curiosity

*May 6, 2026* — by [Sala Levin ’10](/author/sala-levin-10)


> At University Park Elementary School, kids learn about plant science, pollinators and more at new garden with help from UMD

*Community Garden UPES 04242026 DS 3872 1920x1080 — Amy Sapkota, principal investigator of the Global FEWture Alliance, works with students in the University Park Elementary School garden. (Photo by Dylan Singleton)*

On a bright spring afternoon, a group of bubbly fifth-graders descended upon a small garden patch outside of University Park Elementary School to get pollinator plants settled in the dirt. They tipped coneflowers out of their plastic pots, wiggled their fingers through the plants’ roots to break them loose, plunged shovels and trowels into the garden bed and patted dirt back onto the native plants before giving them a cool drink of water.

This garden, located just 2 miles south of the University of Maryland, is the home of a new fruit and vegetable garden and pollinator garden, thanks to support from UMD. As students plant and maintain the garden, they’ll learn the basics of plant science, gain insight into the role of pollinators, get physical activity, do good in their community by donating to food banks and develop a relationship with the natural world.

The School of Public Health’s [Global FEWture Alliance](https://globalfewture.umd.edu/), supported by a UMD [Grand Challenges Grant](https://research.umd.edu/grand-challenges-grants), has spearheaded the installation of six raised beds and the pollinator garden; an [Arts for All](https://arts.umd.edu/) grant is funding a UMD student in the creation of a mural for the garden; and a [Sustainable Maryland](https://sustainablemaryland.com/) grant, a program housed in the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation is also supporting the initiative.

A main goal of the garden is to “address biophobia—the sense that nature is full of dangers and unfamiliarity that we want to avoid by staying inside on screens,” said Heidi Scott, associate clinical professor of global, environmental, and occupational health, who leads the project for UMD. “I want to combat that prevailing cultural force, which limits our ability to find social pleasure, by gardening together.”


*Young woman paints a large eagle painting in an art room festooned with paint splashes — Lynne Regules '26 paints a mural that will adorn a wall facing the garden. (Photo by John T. Consoli)*




**Topics:** [Campus & Community](https://today.umd.edu/tags/campus-community)


**Tags:** [Global, Environmental, and Occupational Health](https://today.umd.edu/topic/department-of-global-environmental-and-occupational-health), [Food](https://today.umd.edu/topic/food), [Arts](https://today.umd.edu/topic/arts)


**Units:** [School of Public Health](https://today.umd.edu/topic/school-public-health), [College of Arts and Humanities](https://today.umd.edu/topic/college-arts-and-humanities), [School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation](https://today.umd.edu/topic/school-architecture-planning-and-preservation)