This is part two in our Garden Get Down Honoree Series. We are excited to be honoring some of our community’s most dedicated growers and fresh food lovers at this years Garden Get Down.
This year’s “School Garden Hero” is William Cary Allen. Cary has been a teacher at the Pittsburgh Public Schools for 32 years and retired earlier in 2024 after teaching at Lincoln Elementary for 10 years. We are excited to honor him at the Garden Get Down in recognition of his decades-long commitment to fostering a love for nature, sustainability, and learning through school gardens.
Cary grew up in a family of gardeners. His father grew a vegetable garden and his mother grew flowers and houseplants, so he got a well-rounded understanding of growing and an appreciation for eating food you grow. When Grow Pittsburgh built the garden at PPS Faison while Cary was teaching there, he knew it would be a great thing to share with his students. “There wasn’t much of an opportunity at that time for kids to garden. So I thought it was a great idea to use the space that we have at the school for that purpose,” he said.
Throughout the years of conducting classes in the garden, Cary realized the profound positive impact that this time had on students. “I found that it’s a great way to teach kids about plants. Also, the additional things that they would learn about, like the birds and the insects in the garden. They got to see the different living things interacting. They got to learn about the good bugs, and pests, and how to care for and respect everything that comes in and out of the garden. Kids were constantly asking questions, and we were constantly explaining what we understood, or asking the same question.”
Reflecting on his time in the garden, Cary shared fond memories of students discovering how their favorite foods grow in the garden. “The kids loved the carrots that they got for lunch. So when our garden carrots finally started to look like carrots in the ground, and the kids figured out how the whole carrot thing comes together, it was a big discovery!” he remembered.
When talking to those who worked with Cary, it’s clear that he was a joy to learn from and work with. Our Director of School Gardens, Redding Jackson, has frequently worked with him and has this to share: “Mr. Allen is so beloved by his students that you can feel it every time you walk into his classroom. You can visibly see it too, in the amount of projects in the works and fun colors and displays around the classroom. He kept worms for composting, other animals for observing and loving, plants growing in the windows and outside in the garden, tactile building supplies in the other spaces. Walking into his educational spaces, both indoors and out, makes you feel curious and excited, the way school is supposed to make you feel.”
He encourages other teachers who might be interested in being a part of their school’s garden to get involved. “My biggest piece of advice for other teachers would be to go for it because it’s worth it. The kids need it. And you have a tremendous amount of help. The energy is there. The help is there and it is real, and the work is important.”
We are excited to honor Cary Allen at this year’s Garden Get Down for his unwavering dedication and profound impact on students and the wider community. Join us on August 13th to celebrate Cary and the rest of this year’s Get Down Honorees, including our “Resilient Community Growers” and our “Farm Stand MVP” awardees.
