The Media Academy garden is now growing ice cream wrappers, batteries, pizza boxes and milk cartons.

Six months ago, said English teacher Channing Woodsom, “The garden was beautiful and filled with corn, strawberries, flowers, an apple tree, grape vines, roses and many other plants and vegetables.”

Former journalism teacher Matthew Green, who resigned at the end of last year, started the garden last year with his newspaper class and had good intentions for the garden before he left.

“The garden was created to help make the school look nicer and to teach my students about gardening, nutrition and where food comes from,” said Green. “I’m disappointed. I was really hoping another teacher and some students would take it on.”

Green’s newspaper class worked for one to two hours every Tuesday using materials bought with a $2,000 Marcus Foster Foundation grant.

“Someone also spent time watering it every day. We had to build all the garden boxes from scratch, cart all the gravel and soil and plant all the veggies by hand,” said Green.

Some of Green’s former students, such as senior Kim Oeur, are also disappointed.

"Students should continue working on the garden,” she said. “If we keep the garden looking good, maybe when we come back 10 years later and see how nice it looks we’ll be proud to say ‘I did this!’”

Principal Benjamin Schmookler said he would not personally do anything to restore the garden. However, he said. “Hopefully somebody will come back and help plant and do new things for the garden this year.”

Media senior Mercedes Saeteurn, who sits by the garden when it's nice out expressed her emotions about the garden.

"The garden is a nice place, but they should plant more stuff out there to make it look nice and should keep it clean," Saeteurn said.