Teen builds garden beds at Fox Elementary to show students how to grow their own food

Students at Fox Elementary School in Columbus will have a chance to get their hands dirty and make their thumbs a little greener after they return from summer break.

Charlie Gilliam, a student at Brookstone School and Boy Scout with Troop 35 in Columbus, has created six raised, garden beds for Fox as his Eagle Scout project. He built two 24-inch tall beds, two 28-inch tall beds and two 32-inch tall beds. He said the smallest are for the youngest students and the tallest for the older students at the school.

Volunteers from the school, along with other Troop #35 members and their parents, joined Gilliam and his parents Saturday morning for the installation. Gilliam said he chose Fox because it's Brookstone's partner-in-education. The school's principal said she is excited for the help.

"We've wanted some raised garden beds for a while," said Yvette Scarborough, the school's principal. "We have a master gardener that's willing to help our kids learn to plant and to grow and to harvest, and so today is the beginning of that project."

Gilliam said he hopes the project will introduce gardening to students who might not have the opportunity at home.

"I hope that they see it as something new and something fun," Gilliam said. "Hopefully it will impact their lives somehow, in a good way."