TAMIU Students Help Create Community Pollinator Garden

Texas A&M International University (TAMIU) students are taking part in a community-wide endeavor to create a pollinator garden at the Canseco Community Garden, while learning more about sustainable practices to implement in their home gardens during a four-part Pollinator Garden Workshop project. 

The initiative is a joint project between TAMIU’s Service Learning Center, the City of Laredo Parks and Leisure Services and the Laredo Center for Urban Agriculture and Sustainability, a local, non-profit group promoting agriculture and sustainability through educational opportunities. 

Students are working out of the Canseco Community Garden, located in the historic Heights neighborhood. There, students are working to create and sustain a pollinator garden.

Unlike most plant or vegetable-based gardens, a pollinator garden is predominantly made up of flowers that provide nectar or pollen to pollinating insects.

TAMIU students are taking part in various sessions, ranging from hands-on garden design, setting up flowering plants and participating in a planting day at the Garden. 

This particular opportunity will enable students to learn about native plants and sustainable landscape practices, explained Dr. Marcela Uribe, TAMIU learning resources coordinator.  

“We hope that the workshop will spark students’ interest in sustainable practices, which they can apply from this ‘living’ classroom to their homes. Moreover, students have the opportunity to co-construct and work collaboratively in the research and garden design,” added Uribe.

Currently, the Service Learning Center hosts its own community garden on campus, located behind the University’s Kinesiology, Wellness and Recreation Center.

The Service Learning Center hopes to continue its efforts during the upcoming Fall semester as they continue to educate students on topics such as sustainable practices, food production, and more. 

For more information, please contact Uribe at 956.326.3133, email marcela.uribe@tamiu.edu or visit the Senator Judith Zaffirini Student Success Center, room 223C.

University office hours are 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday-Friday.

For more of the University’s story, visit tamiu.edu or its social media sites on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube.