Inskip Elementary

Est. 2021
Garden Liaison: Ellen Monroe
Spaces Supported: Vegetable Garden, Native Landscaping
Student Engagement: Daytime Curricular Enrichment, Afterschool Garden Club

The Inskip Elementary Learning Garden is the largest vegetable garden that the YGEP supports. Established in 2021, the YGEP began supporting Ms. Ellen Monroe in the Spring of 2024, helping to streamline production and redesigning several native landscapes. The YGEP leads a weekly garden club for students attending afterschool YMCA programming in conjunction with Ms. Monroe.

Working together, the YGEP and Ms. Monroe have not only seen growth in student excitement and ownership over the garden space since 2024, but the YGEP has also been able to connect with teachers in the daytime to offer outdoor curricular enrichment opportunities, mostly in the form of “on-site field trips” – opportunities for a whole grade level to participate in hands-on, active outdoor learning activities exploring the topics they cover in their classroom. The YGEP also partnered with Keep Knoxville Beautiful in the Spring of 2025 to transform three underutilized landscaping beds into functional native landscapes. With such great on-site leadership from Ms. Monroe, the YGEP is excited to see how it can support more opportunities for students, teachers, and families to engage with Inskip’s outdoor spaces, making them more accessible, educational, and beneficial to the local community.