What grows in UIC’s Heritage Garden?

Videography by Brian Flood

The UIC Heritage Garden is a hands-on learning project where students work with faculty, staff and community members to connect horticulture with sustainability, diversity and social justice.

The project’s student leaders and interns oversee the planting of six satellite gardens on the east side of campus with assistance from the Latino Cultural Center staff. Paid internships are funded by the UIC Green Fee.

This summer, the project curriculum includes a 12-week session developed by the directors of the African-American Cultural Center, Gender and Sexuality Center, Asian American Resource and Cultural Center, and Latino Cultural Center.

The student leaders and interns will collect stories from family, friends and community members about environmentally-friendly traditions and practices, then work with About Face Youth Theatre to create performances based on the collected stories. They’ll create bird sculptures out of recycled materials for the garden with local artist Alfonso “Piloto” Nieves Ruiz, and travel to Pembroke Township to document African-American farming practices for a future exhibit.

Learn more about the UIC Heritage Garden online.