BROWNSVILLE — A group of students at Texas Southmost College has put together a number of designs for the Brownsville Wellness Coalition to consider as the next phase for the city’s community gardens begins.
The collaboration began when BWC Executive Director Melissa Delgado met Murad Abusalim, an architecture instructor at TSC who teaches the college’s Design II class.
From there, the students in his course were tasked with researching and incorporating best practices from community gardens across the country into what will be three new gardens in Brownsville.
Delgado and a group of experts will evaluate each design individually to determine which one will be chosen for the three parks.
The project was a great opportunity for students to get involved in the community, Abusalim said.
Designing for a budget of $10,000 for each garden, students got to work, taking pains to make sure each design was cost- and space-efficient while also being creative, Abusalim said.
“I can’t think of a better teaching methodology in which we can foster responsibility and social awareness while also promoting creativity,” he said.
It’s a hands-on approach that works, Abusalim said.
Students were a bit under pressure because work for the community gardens is moving very quickly, Abusalim said. But they rose to the occasion, he added.
Jose Muñoz, a 22-year-old architecture student, said he learned a lot while working on the project.
Muñoz said the students had to take into consideration wind patterns and the sun’s footprint, but the task of making the garden wheelchair accessible was the greatest lesson.
The project is close to the type of work Muñoz would like to continue in the future. Being involved in the community was one of the reasons he chose this career path, he said.
“I love this kind of assignment because you are really involved with the community,” Muñoz said. “The reason why I chose to become an architect is to have that positive impact in my community. It doesn’t matter what city or what state I’ll be at, I’m just looking at how I’m able to impact my community.”
Architecture student Aleida Gonzalez said she worked hard on the project and learned by trial and error about the requirements needed to have a successful community garden.
“It was all pure research, and the two of us learned it little by little,” Gonzalez, 22, said of working with a partner on the project. “But between each other and the other groups in class, we all supported each other.”
For Delgado, the BWC executive director, the student project allowed the designs to be out of the box.
“I was having to design them, and I was doing it block by block,” Delgado said.
Abusalim said he expects to incorporate these kinds of projects into each class he teaches.
“That’s the beauty of whenever we have service-learning projects,” Abusalim said. “(Students) want to contribute. They like to be part of positive, life-changing projects.”
