What started as a small gardening club has grown into a student-led organization that teaches sustainability, builds community partnerships and provides meaningful opportunities for students across campus. Under the leadership of seniors Anaya Sunthankar and Houchehr Alaei Rad, Sprouting Spartans has expanded from a small group of students into a program with a multiple gardens, community partnerships and hands-on learning opportunities.

“We used to only have four gardens and now we have seven,” Sunthankar said. “Rebecca (the former club president and founder) and our sponsor were able to get like a grant that gave us $5,000 to buy supplies, garden beds and more.”

Since its founding in 2022, the club has steadily expanded its presence on campus. While some of the gardens are maintained with the help of the school’s grounds staff, students manage several garden beds themselves, deciding what to plant and taking responsibility for the upkeep. Members grow both decorative flowers and edible crops, creating a hands-on learning experience for students involved in the club.

“We choose to plant flowers and a lot of food,” Sunthankar said. “Members of our club who help plant the crops are allowed to take home whatever yield we have.”

Much of the club’s recent growth has been shaped by the leadership of seniors Sunthankar and Rad, who have helped expand the club’s goals beyond simply introducing students to gardening. Since joining the club as a freshman, Rad has worked her way up through multiple leadership roles.

“I joined in the middle of my freshman year when Rebecca, our previous president, was president,” Rad said. “Initially I was garden manager, then junior year I was vice president, and now I am co-president with Anaya.”

Under their leadership, the club began focusing more heavily on outreach and community engagement, using gardening as a way to connect students with the broader community.

“When I became vice president, Anaya and I started focusing more on spreading our influence throughout the community,” Rad said. “We started volunteering outside, planting things that actually created produce and cementing our collaboration with Best Buddies and Griffin Elementary.”

One of the club’s most meaningful partnerships has been its collaboration with Best Buddies, where students work alongside peers with intellectual and developmental disabilities to teach gardening skills. Through grant funding, the program was designed to provide practical experiences and life skills.

“We got some grant money to work with them and have garden space in order to teach them how to use different gardening tools,” Sunthankar said. “It gives them a skill set they can use in the future when they’re trying to search for a job after high school.”

The partnership gives students a chance to try activities they normally would not experience during the school day.

“Some of our buddies definitely like it more than others, but they like having the chance to do something that they don’t normally get to do at school,” Best Buddies president Katelyn Satterwhite said. “It’s a great opportunity for them.”

Outside of the campus, Sprouting Spartans has also extended its outreach to younger students by mentoring children at Griffin Elementary.

“Griffin Elementary actually reached out to us,” Rad said. “They had their own gardening club and wanted to know if we could help teach them or provide materials.”

Each month, Sprouting Spartans members visit the school to teach gardening basics and environmental concepts before working with students outside in the garden.

“We usually talk about a topic like composting, ecosystems or insects you can find in gardens,” Rad said. “Then we do an activity and go outside and garden in their garden space.”

Through these collaborations, Sprouting Spartans has become more than a gardening club. It now serves as a space where students learn leadership, sustainability and community service while sharing those lessons with others.

As the club continues to grow, its members hope the gardens they maintain will remain both a learning environment and a symbol of the community they have built.

“Gardening teaches patience,” Sunthankar said. “You plant something small, and over time it turns into something bigger than you expected.”