IHS Climate Justice Alliance Revives and Reopens Anderson Garden

    This spring, IHS Climate Justice Alliance (CJA) students led efforts to open up the Anderson Garden, the courtyard in G-Building, for students during Universal Lunch. The courtyard, previously messy and overgrown, has been cleared out and is soon to be home to a number of flowers including irises, hostas, lilies, milkweed, and hibiscus. Named after the late IHS English teacher Dorothy Anderson, the garden is a monument to a long line of English teachers who have cared for it and used it as a learning space.

    The district Sustainability Advocates and CJA view healthy schools and equitable access to green spaces as central to a climate action plan. With flower donations from Kenda-Lee Hice, guidance from their advisors, librarian Armin Heurich and biology teacher Conor Higgins, discretionary funds from IHS principal Caren Arnold, and support from the ICSD Facilities Department, students were able to get their hands dirty and make a positive change for the school community, volunteering a couple of Saturdays to the effort. Ada Goldweber ’27, CJA Co-President, said CJA hopes to provide a calm outdoor space for students.

    After Anderson’s sudden, early death in 1992, the courtyard was dedicated to her, a beloved English teacher at IHS. Her husband, Richard, began teaching at the high school a few years later and was known to spend much time there, whether alone with his thoughts and a big cup of coffee or with his classes, acting out Shakespeare. Their son, Stephen Anderson, was recently an associate principal (AP) at IHS and is now Enfield Elementary’s principal. When he was an AP, Stephen’s office looked over the Anderson Garden in what he describes as a “full-circle moment.”

    Care for the Anderson Garden has ebbed and flowed over the decades, passing through many different teachers’ and administrators’ hands. Most notably, former IHS English teacher Ross Creagan was dedicated to the space, volunteering his time to take care of it all the way up to his retirement in 2018. This year’s efforts, however, mark the first time that students have led the charge and that the space has been opened up for student use during lunch. Stephen Anderson urges students to continue to care for and respect the space so it can be used for generations to come: “Even just an annual cleanup goes a long way.”