Program on the Environment

College students experience significant degrading on physical and mental health after entering college due to varieties of reasons such as academic pressure, racial injustice, technology reliance, disconnection with nature, etc. College as a learning space cannot provide access to therapeutic facilities spatially nor financially. However, a lot of colleges do provide gardening-related courses that involve usually some degree of academic teaching as well as hands-on physical gardening practices, which might potentially exert some health benefits on students like therapeutic gardening. This study determines to evaluate the effect of college gardening courses on college students’ health and to identify the barriers for students to take such courses. The research utilized online literature review to evaluate the different effects gardening courses has on students from perspectives of physical activities, connection to nature, mental effect and social effect. An online survey was also used to collect the barriers students in Seattle region identified for them to access gardening courses. As an environmental intern at reSTART Life (An agency that cures technology addiction), I also collected observational data from the clients when they were doing gardening activities. The result suggested a positive relationship between participating gardening course with the health condition and lifestyle of students in the course. Multiple health benefits and barriers were identified. Based on the research, gardening courses can potentially be a solution to better college students’ health since it provides academic credits and won’t occupy students’ leisure time.