Urban Roots of Tennessee at Star Academy Charter School (Raleigh, Memphis, TN)
Memphis, United States · Operator: Star Academy Charter School（スター・アカデミー・チャータースクール）
Overview
In the Raleigh neighbourhood of Memphis, Tennessee, a two-acre plot behind Star Academy Charter School was turned into a $1.5 million learning farm, Urban Roots of Tennessee, reported in August 2026. It includes a year-round greenhouse, a freshwater eco pond, a pollinator garden and learning beds, and serves pupils from pre-K to 8th grade. The school frames it as going beyond standardised-test preparation to teach children "how they can compete in these increasingly globalized and automated communities".
Citizen participation
Pupils from pre-K through 8th grade take part in growing and observation tied to their lessons. The initiative is framed as student-driven, aiming at hands-on farming and ecology learning rather than test preparation.
Operating model
Built and run as a school facility with $1.5 million of funding. It is part of the school's operation rather than a commercial farm.
Impact
Ambitious for a school garden in both scale and equipment: greenhouse, pond and pollinator planting combine into something that can carry learning through the whole year. It is a reference case for using idle school land to build the farm on site rather than bussing children out to one, and the $1.5 million cost gives a sense of what it takes to treat a school garden as a facility rather than an extended flower bed.
Land tenure
Converted from land within the school's own grounds.
Crops
- 野菜
- 送粉者向けの花
Scale
校舎裏の約2エーカー（約8,000平方メートル）。総事業費150万ドル。通年利用の温室、淡水のエコポンド、送粉者用の花壇、学習用の栽培ベッドを備える
In the media（2）
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