Walking around campus at the start of the year, students may have noticed two new wooden planter boxes near the 700 wing, next to Study Skills teacher Lauren Taylor’s room. Filled with vibrant plants, these boxes add a pop of color to students’ and teachers’ lives alike.
Over the summer, a hammock was also added next to the miniature garden for students to rest.
The inspiration for the planters first came from Taylor’s Study Skills students.
“My students and I got really sick of just seeing a ring of dirt outside of our window and the door. We started wondering, ‘Why don’t we have any plants there?’” Taylor said.
Spearheaded by Taylor’s Class of ’25 alumni Wanjing Zhang, Dominique Harrison, Emma Schriver and Jay Louie — and overseen by Taylor — the project was launched last school year and completed this summer.
The students primarily envisioned the project — the process of visualizing, drawing up a sketch and designing was entirely student-led. Meanwhile, Taylor guided the students on logistical aspects, including the space and orientation of the planter boxes, sizes and dimensions.
After the project had been planned, assistant principal Mathew Torrens helped execute the students’ vision. Throughout the school year, they intermittently worked on writing a grant to sponsor the cost of the materials — around $1,200 for everything.
Over the summer, Torrens’ own father volunteered to construct the planter boxes out of recycled redwood.
Over the summer, Taylor and her students met to pick out and buy the plants of their choice — with Taylor guiding them to keep the plants in the same color and plant family.
“The only real challenge is that when I was with the students and we were picking out plants, they picked some plants that wouldn’t flower every year, or created a lot of dead leaves, so I had to guide them to pick plants that would work better,” Taylor said.
Since the majority of the plants are drought-resistant, the planter boxes require minimal upkeep — watering once a week is sufficient for summer and fall weather, and the plants need very little to no water over the winter months.
Funded by the Saratoga Foundation, the project brings new life to the wing and is part of a number of recent projects that revitalize the campus, including the new deck built between the quad redwood trees.
“I would be totally down to do this again and help other kids do similar projects,” Taylor said. “I really like landscape design, and especially drought-tolerant plants, so I would love to be a part of it.”
