Students unveil amazing mural at the Morse School

This has been the summer of young people going above and beyond at CitySprouts! First there were the boys at the Cambridge Street Upper School who planted their own garden from scratch. Then, during the last week of the Summer Youth Program, the whole crew at the Morse School joined together to improve their garden space with a beautiful mural.

Painted on the back of the CitySprouts garden shed, the mural depicts an apple tree growing beside a school garden bed, which is overflowing with crops (corn, carrots, squash -- even a banana). A young student sits on one of the tree's branches, reading a book. It's an inviting picture of the garden as a peaceful space for children to learn.

The whole group of summer interns at the Morse School helped paint the mural. Ari Yanakakis-Carroll, rising seventh grader and CitySprouts veteran, took charge by drafting a pencil sketch (pictured below) to guide the painting process. Kayla Bernard, another rising seventh grader, joined Ari in showing off the mural--then still a work in progress--at the CitySprouts Garden Expo on August 19. The pair weren't afraid to get the expo guests involved in the creative process. "Some pre-school kids came to our expo," Kayla said, "so we had them paint the bugs at the base of the mural."

This year's CitySprouts Summer Youth Program may be over, but the Morse interns' mural remains. We're so impressed by everything our interns have done this summer to make lasting improvements to their school gardens. Awesome job, CitySprouts interns!