Daniel Hicks

Hicks’ innovative teaching idea, “Hill Community Garden,” is focused on having students from the school’s student council develop their community leadership by organizing, constructing and managing a community garden for the Hill neighborhood in New Haven. Hicks and his students will seek to create trust, responsibility, and a stronger sense of community among residents of their neighborhood while also providing a source of food for those who struggle to provide for themselves. Hicks believes that through this project, the students will learn valuable lessons of community activism, leadership and organization. The garden will directly benefit all students who will be able to use the gardens in their science and health classes. The student council also hopes to work with the school’s food services in order to provide freshly grown fruits and vegetables a few times a year during lunch. By allowing students to learn how to tackle a community problem, Hicks says this hands-on learning experience will demonstrate the true potential students have, and the changes they can make when they set their minds to something.