UC students recover spaces by planting seedlings on the San Joaquín campus

Students of the course “Flower and ornamental production”, taught by Professor Úrsula Steinfort, planted rosemary, lavender, vautros and other seasonal species in the courtyard of the Faculty of Agronomy and Forest Engineering.

“Recovering the spaces with the land has been a great achievement of this academic year” affirms the academic Úrsula Steinfort, from the chair of flower and ornamental production of the Agronomy career . And it is that, after two years of pandemic, disciplines such as those taught by the Faculty of Agronomy and Forest Engineering had to overcome the difficulty of not being able to work in the field, an integral part of their training. “Our mission is to make students re-enchant with the land and with their career,” she explains.

In the flowers and ornamentals course, students learned about the entire reproduction process, which resulted in more than 600 species. During the last two classes, they prepared the soil in one of the college gardens and planted more than 200 of the seedlings.

“Recovering the use of these gardens was a task that, like many others, had to be postponed due to the pandemic, so we hope that the work of the flower and ornamental students is the first of this type of initiative, which contributes to strengthen the identity of the Faculty and move forward with our Strategic Plan”, explained Rodrigo Figueroa, dean.

In the flowers and ornamentals course, students learned about the entire reproduction process, which resulted in more than 600 species

The rest of the 600 reproduced species were donated to the Clínica Familia, specialized in palliative care, where from the dean’s office they have supported professors Francisco Fuentes and Luis Mejías in the installation of a vegetable garden as part of the course “Topics in undergraduate research”. , which is part of the Learning + Service methodology .

“It is scientifically proven that plants heal. Having ornamental plants in your environment helps patients recover faster and improve their mood. A person who is going through the palliative care process can give them peace. For me, the Plants are a motivation in themselves and I love seeing that there are young people who feel the same way and being able to transmit that passion to them”, explains Steinfort.

For its part, the course “Topics in undergraduate research” carried out an activity with students at the Clínica Familia, located in the municipality of Florida, where the meaning of the project and the positive impact that the course has had on students was explained. faculty. “The installation of this garden is part of the objective of promoting the university’s public role and commitment to society, which is one of the axes of the UC’s 2020-2025 development plan, seeking to generate a real impact on life of people and communities,” said the dean.