Many hands make light work, it is said. And that was true Friday, Sept. 27, at Westminster High as students helped harvest watermelons – taking a break from class and enjoying the fruits of their labor.
Separated into two groups of approximately 1,200 students each, they filed out of school and walked to The Giving Farm at the rear of the campus where several thousand watermelons lay in the sun waiting to be carried to large bins.
Trees Hill, a volunteer coordinator, holds a piece of watermelon as volunteers cut watermelon for the students and staff at Westminster High School in Westminster to eat after they carried the watermelons from the field at the Giving Farm located behind the school to bins where they will be delivered to the OC Food Bank, on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. Several thousand watermelons are grown at the school each year along with a variety of other produce. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Students and staff from Westminster High School in Westminster carry watermelons from the field at the Giving Farm located behind the school to bins where they will be delivered to the OC Food Bank, on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. Several thousand watermelons are grown at the school each year along with a variety of other produce. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Westminster High School Principal Amy Sabol takes photos of students carrying watermelons from the field at the Giving Farm located behind the school to bins where they will be delivered to the OC Food Bank, on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, in Westminster. Several thousand watermelons are grown at the school each year along with a variety of other produce. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Volunteers cut watermelon for the students and staff at Westminster High School in Westminster to eat after they carried the watermelons from the field at the Giving Farm located behind the school to bins where they will be delivered to the OC Food Bank, on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. Several thousand watermelons are grown at the school each year along with a variety of other produce. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Volunteers cut watermelon for the students and staff at Westminster High School in Westminster to eat after they carried the watermelons from the field at the Giving Farm located behind the school to bins where they will be delivered to the OC Food Bank, on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. Several thousand watermelons are grown at the school each year along with a variety of other produce. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Students and staff from Westminster High School in Westminster carry watermelons from the field at the Giving Farm located behind the school to bins where they will be delivered to the OC Food Bank, on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. Several thousand watermelons are grown at the school each year along with a variety of other produce. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Westminster High School teacher Tim Boyd takes photos of some of his students after they carried watermelons from the field at the Giving Farm located behind the school to bins where they will be delivered to the OC Food Bank, on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, in Westminster. Several thousand watermelons are grown at the school each year along with a variety of other produce. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Students and staff from Westminster High School in Westminster carry watermelons from the field at the Giving Farm located behind the school to bins where they will be delivered to the OC Food Bank, on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. Several thousand watermelons are grown at the school each year along with a variety of other produce. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Students and staff from Westminster High School in Westminster carry watermelons from the field at the Giving Farm located behind the school to bins where they will be delivered to the OC Food Bank, on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. Several thousand watermelons are grown at the school each year along with a variety of other produce. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Westminster High School Principal Amy Sabol takes photos as students and staff from carry watermelons from the field at the Giving Farm located behind the school to bins where they will be delivered to the OC Food Bank, on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, in Westminster. Several thousand watermelons are grown at the school each year along with a variety of other produce. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Students and staff from Westminster High School in Westminster carry watermelons from the field at the Giving Farm located behind the school to bins where they will be delivered to the OC Food Bank, on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. Several thousand watermelons are grown at the school each year along with a variety of other produce. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Students pick up pieces of watermelon at Westminster High School in Westminster to eat after they carried the watermelons from the field at the Giving Farm located behind the school to bins where they will be delivered to the OC Food Bank, on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. Several thousand watermelons are grown at the school each year along with a variety of other produce. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Students and staff from Westminster High School in Westminster carry watermelons from the field at the Giving Farm located behind the school to bins where they will be delivered to the OC Food Bank, on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. Several thousand watermelons are grown at the school each year along with a variety of other produce. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Some of the watermelons picked by students and staff from Westminster High School in Westminster in the field at the Giving Farm located behind the school that will be delivered to the OC Food Bank, on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. Several thousand watermelons are grown at the school each year along with a variety of other produce. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Westminster High School Principal Amy Sabol, left, poses for a selfie with Jesus Ortega, a teacher and ASP advisor as students and staff from carry watermelons from the field at the Giving Farm located behind the school to bins where they will be delivered to the OC Food Bank, on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, in Westminster. Several thousand watermelons are grown at the school each year along with a variety of other produce. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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Trees Hill, a volunteer coordinator, holds a piece of watermelon as volunteers cut watermelon for the students and staff at Westminster High School in Westminster to eat after they carried the watermelons from the field at the Giving Farm located behind the school to bins where they will be delivered to the OC Food Bank, on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. Several thousand watermelons are grown at the school each year along with a variety of other produce. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
The process was simple, orderly and over in a few minutes. The students walked down a row, picked up a watermelon, carried it a few hundred feet to a bin, dropped it in and then stopped to get their reward; a fresh slice of juicy watermelon.
School Principal Amy Sabol, dressed in western attire of jeans, boots and a hat, waited at the edge of the field, taking a few photos of the harvesting event as the students, and a few teachers, left with their arms full.
On top of the schoolwide harvesting events that have become a tradition, the 8-acre Giving Farm offers students the opportunity to enroll in courses to learn about urban agriculture and nutrition, and the work of the OC Food Bank, which benefits from more than 200,000 pounds of produce received annually from the farm.
