Freeport Student Garden sows solutions for the community

By KIM HILL
Illinois Farm Bureau Partners 

At Freeport High School in Illinois, students learn more than the classroom basics with hands-on experience from the Freeport Student Garden, where they not only cultivate crops but also business skills, community enrichment and more.

“About 60% of Freeport’s residents live in a food desert, and we focus a lot on the food insecurity that exists in our community,” says Ben Skipor, Freeport High School agriculture science and careers teacher and garden coordinator. “Many of our students themselves have experienced that.”

Over the past three years, the high schoolers working in the Freeport Student Garden have produced about 5,000 pounds of produce each season, growing about 55 different vegetables, fruits and herbs. Designed to develop agriculture and career skills, the garden allows students to grow, harvest and sell what they produce.

“They also see the benefits of gardening, whether it’s the physical benefits of being active or the mental and emotional benefits of slowing down and connecting with yourself,” Skipor says.

Lessons beyond the classroom

Through their work in the garden, students learn where food comes from and how it affects their health.

During the school day, the garden workers are students in Skipor’s urban agriculture classes. Students working after school, over the summer and on weekends are paid for their labor. The garden program aims to be self-sufficient; with all the money it makes used to cover costs and student wages.

 

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Lilly Webb joined the program as a freshman and learned quickly about the commitment agriculture requires and its local impact.

“I learned that my work in the garden directly affects our profits and people in the community,” says Webb, who worked with the student garden for four years before graduating this spring. “If I’m not doing things correctly or if I’m not working as hard as I can, it affects people.”

Marketing the market

During the growing season, students sell at the weekly Stephenson County Farmers Market, which teaches life skills including grit and dedication.

“In the summer, I meet students at the garden at 6 a.m. on Saturday market days,” Skipor says. “They’ve made a commitment, and they stick to it.”

Webb spent many Saturdays throughout the summers working at the farmers market and notes it was one of her favorite parts because she was able to connect with others and meet new people.

These skills are critical aspects of the program’s mission, with the market offering a learning opportunity for both students and shoppers. The students learn how to communicate with the public, how to sell produce, offer cooking tips and how to make change.

“The students are learning about themselves and about their community, and they’re learning to give back,” Skipor says. “What they’re doing has a really big impact on the health and well-being of their community.”

Aside from the market, the student garden offers a community supported agriculture program, or CSA.

“Our biggest profits come from our CSA shares,” Skipor says. “In 2024, we had 26 shareholders, with each shareholder getting a half-bushel box of produce every other week. We’ve increased the number of households we serve every year.”

The students also maintain a self-service farm stand.

“If you can’t make it to the Saturday market or you are not a CSA member, you can still come by and make a purchase on the honor system,” Skipor says. “It’s one of the biggest things we do in terms of accessibility.”

Growing crops and community

Along with the usual tomatoes and onions, the students also grow black-eyed peas, a time-intensive crop that’s a popular request from their customer base, exemplifying the program’s focus on local needs.

“Part of our mission is building community through food and food access,” Skipor says. “If we’re not getting a lot from some of the things we grow, we might take a step back, but other things we keep doing because we see a direct benefit to our customers and our community.”

 

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More than 200 students are involved in the garden each year, raising vegetables from asparagus to zucchini.

“We can grow asparagus as thick as your thumb, but it’s super, super tender,” Skipor says.

They’re increasing their production of okra, another popular crop that is not widely found among other Freeport market vendors. They also grow starter plants, including marigolds and several varieties of heirloom tomatoes.

To offer the wide variety of produce, the Freeport Student Garden has several locations. The main urban farm, a five-minute walk from the high school, holds the annual and perennial beds, one of the greenhouses, the chicken coop and the farm stand. Apple and pear trees grow in a small orchard nearby.

Thanks to several grants and community support, another greenhouse was built adjacent to Skipor’s classroom in 2024. And an underutilized courtyard at the high school now has raised vegetable beds.

“We call it the Feeding Families Garden, and it has a very focused mission,” Skipor says of the courtyard area. “All the produce grown in that space goes to families of need within our school district and community. During the growing season, we take produce every week to a local food pantry.”

To learn more, check out the Freeport Student Garden Facebook.

This story was distributed through a cooperative project between Illinois Farm Bureau and the Illinois Press Association. For more food and farming news, visit ILFBpartners.com.