The Nourish Garden

The Nourish Garden team left to right: Rachel Byun, Lauren Kim, Dr. Kearney Gunsalus, James Hughes, Ethan Kearns, Sara Sohani, Dr. Laurel Murrow, and Johnny Dusek.

In the summer of 2024, Augusta University/University of Georgia Medical Partnership students Rachel Byun, James Hughes, and Lauren Kim thought there was something missing from their beloved Health Sciences Campus on Prince Avenue.

Byun said that while the life of a medical student centers around health and nutrition, there was no physical place on campus to combine the two with purpose.

After brainstorming around their impending summer research project, the group came up with the Community Gardening at the Medical Partnership, an initiative to establish a community garden on the Health Science Campus.

“A garden seemed like the perfect way to align our values with action and be a space where we could live out the principles we discuss in class while making a tangible impact on our community,” said Byun.

Byun said they wanted to conduct their research while helping the community they love, and during that research, they found out just exactly how many of their neighbors were dealing with food insecurity—almost fourteen percent of Athens-Clarke County residents experience food insecurity, with fresh produce being one of the hardest resources for food-insecure families to access.

With that statistic in mind, they set out to learn more about community gardens. They discovered there were 17 non-school affiliated community gardens in Athens-Clarke County, with only half located in food-insecure areas. The students partnered with the Department of Geography to design a map of every garden in Athens-Clarke County to determine their accessibility to those who need it most.

The group then interviewed community garden leaders on best practices and challenges they faced with land tenure, funding, supplies, and garden maintenance. They took those answers and compiled a guide that could be of use for future gardens.

“These gardens improve access to fresh produce, foster community engagement, and provide education on nutrition and sustainability,” Byun said. “They also promote physical activity, healthy eating, and mental well-being, serving as hubs for collaboration and collective growth.”

In December, the group received word that they had been awarded a $5,000 UGA Campus Sustainability Grant. The grants are awarded to projects that advance sustainability through education, research, service, and campus operations.

With funding behind their idea, the group put their actions into motion.

The students met with more possible community partners and brainstormed ideas of where the garden (now aptly named the Nourish Garden) should reside on campus. The group is currently waiting as the proposal moves through necessary approval channels, but they are already thinking about the future, such as eventually supplying fresh produce to the patients of the Medical Partnership’s Athens Free Clinic.

Byun said they also hope to see the garden as a benefit to the medical school curriculum.

“As future health care providers, we often talk about food as medicine and the importance of nutrition, but without the tools to put those concepts into practice, it can feel abstract,” she said. “This garden offers a way to bridge that gap, not just by growing produce but by serving as a living classroom where medical students can learn how to talk to patients about nutrition in a meaningful and approachable way.”

But above all, Byun said community gardens bring people together in an act to give back to the community.

“Our community garden would bring together medical students, pre-med students, public health experts, and local organizations to collaborate and make a difference,” she said. “This initiative reflects who we are and what we strive to be as a campus because it reinforces our commitment to collaboration and service.”

To get involved with the Nourish Garden, click here.