Growing a New Learning Hub: SEEAG + La Colina Junior High

SEEAG is excited to partner with La Colina Junior High School and the Santa Barbara Unified School District to expand hands-on agricultural and STEM education on campus. Together, we are transforming two outdoor spaces into unique educational landscapes.

These spaces will serve as living classrooms where students can learn by doing - - from growing food and investigating soil health to exploring water conservation, climate resilience, and agricultural technology. Our goal is to create a long-term learning hub that sparks curiosity, builds STEM skills, and helps students see the connections between science, agriculture, and the world around them while introducing them to future careers in these fields.

Getting Our Hands Dirty at La Colina

While the larger vision is exciting, bringing these spaces to life starts with the work happening right now.

Recently, the SEEAG team spent several hours at La Colina for a volunteer garden workday, getting our hands dirty and helping prepare the existing garden spaces for their next chapter. It was a full day of teamwork, hard work, and plenty of time outdoors!

Our team tackled a variety of projects throughout the garden, including pruning cherimoya trees, pruning lime trees, spreading fresh mulch, weeding the herb spirals, and breaking down compost. Each task may seem small on its own, but together, these efforts are helping restore and care for the garden while creating a strong foundation for the educational spaces to come.

We are incredibly grateful to the La Colina team for welcoming SEEAG into this project and sharing their vision for what these spaces can become. We are just getting started, and we can't wait to watch the gardens and the opportunities for students grow.