Trading out the usual soil and shovels for clay and rollers, Rooftop Garden Club met in collaboration with Pottery Club on Feb. 24. Members from the clubs learned to mold and shape clay plant pots to be used in the rooftop garden.

Senior and Pottery Club president Aoife McBride approached Rooftop Garden Club with the idea of collaborating. The plant pot making event is the only current collaboration, but both clubs are open to the activity being a recurring project.

“I thought it would be a good and fun opportunity to involve ourselves in the school community,” McBride said.

Senior and Rooftop Garden Club president Ryan Fahed decided to collaborate with Pottery Club in hopes of bringing new people to both clubs. Fahed “loves” that Rooftop Garden Club has material results, as he believes there aren’t that many clubs that have a sense of working toward something larger in the same way that Rooftop Garden Club has.

“On the Garden Club side of things, we wanted to give our members a chance to get outside of their comfort zone and do something they wouldn’t otherwise,” Fahed said. “Making pots for the plants we grow is a fun way to incorporate something new into Rooftop Garden Club.”

For students like Fahed, Rooftop Garden Club provides an escape from the classroom, with getting to be outside and working in the soil to be a very “therapeutic experience.”

“Being able to reconnect with nature during the school day and forget about the stresses of class is such a blessing, and I hope that Garden Club is able to provide that for all its members the same way it provides it for me,” Fahed said.

The meeting was one of many, as both clubs will continue to meet for the next few weeks to finish the project.

“Because gardening is such a long, overarching process, one or two meetings don’t matter a whole lot in the long run,” Fahed said. “Our seedlings are still growing, and any weeds we would’ve pulled would be growing back. It’s more about the continued effort over the months leading up to our harvest.”

Rooftop Garden Club serves as a community where members like senior Ashley Nix De Leon can “unwind, be creative and enjoy connecting” with others who share similar interests.

“Something about working with plants feels very meditative,” Nix De Leon said. “For me, it’s a way of expressing and connecting with nature that ultimately brings peace.”

To learn more about Rooftop Garden Club and Pottery Club’s events, follow their Reminds @rooftop24 and @bhsp0ttery.