Growing Green Thumbs and Good Kids: This AgriLife Extension Program Does It All

What started as one woman’s vision for a children’s gardening program in Bryan-College Station has grown into an international force for good, taking root in more than 10 countries. Its motto? “Growing Good Kids.”

The Junior Master Gardener (JMG) program, managed by the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, provides curriculum options and activities for grades pre-K through eighth. More than just horticulture, it aims to ignite in youth a passion for learning, service and success. While 70% of the program is school-based, organizations like 4-H, Scouts, Boys & Girls Clubs and YMCA also utilize its curriculum.

Lisa Whittlesey ’89 ’90, program founder and director, explained that JMG works hard to make its lessons fun and accurate by collaborating with content experts and teachers. “We focus on how educators can incorporate gardening into what they’re already doing in the classroom,” she said.
 

The Liske family was introduced to JMG through the “Bugs ‘n’ Blooms” summer camp hosted at the Texas A&M University Leach Teaching Gardens. Two of their children, Xavier and Adela, experienced hands-on learning in greenhouses, entomology labs and the great outdoors for several hours a day. They had fun catching insects and building hives for displaced bees while learning about the importance of serving the community. “We picked squash to give to the food bank,” Xavier recalled.

Even after the three-day camp ended, the kids found a way to continue their gardening skills while turning a profit. Together with their younger brother, Xavier and Adela began growing tomatoes and other plants and selling the seedlings at local markets. “Gardening encourages creativity and problem-solving,” Whittlesey said. “It offers a space for families to work together.”
 

Research from the program shows that gardening has many benefits, including improved nutrition, less screen time, and better physical and mental health. Some JMG participants have even found their future careers in horticulture. “We’re not just planting seeds in the garden; we’re planting seeds of hope in the lives of young people,” Whittlesey said with conviction. “It doesn’t get much better than that.”