A patch of corn growing from a Manhattan sidewalk grew into a flourishing point of pride for a group of young students. The students planted the patch in the spring, watered it through the summer, and watched the stalks climb several feet above them.
Then, just weeks before harvest, someone ripped the plants from the ground and threw them away.
The garden belonged to children at Mis Amiguitos Spanish Montessori on the Upper East Side. In an Aug. 18 report, FOX 5 New York shared surveillance footage dated Aug. 16 showing a man arrive on a Citi Bike, stop beside the garden, pull out the cornstalks, and put them in a nearby trash can.
The NYPD is investigating the damage as criminal mischief. For school owner Mily Caballero, the hardest part was watching children try to understand why somebody had destroyed something they had spent months growing.
The Sidewalk Had Become Part of the Classroom
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Mis Amiguitos has used the tree bed outside its building at East 84th Street and York Avenue for about five years to teach children about plants and nature, according to FOX 5 New York. Before the corn, students successfully grew pumpkins and sunflowers there.
The garden started almost by accident. Caballero told Patch in an Aug. 21 interview that a tree had been knocked out of the bed during the pandemic, leaving an empty patch of soil. After discarded Halloween pumpkins later sprouted there, teachers began turning the space into a gardening lesson. FOX 5 New York reports that city parks officials confirmed that growing plants in the tree bed was allowed.
This year, students planted corn in April and spent months caring for it. They planned to harvest it in September for classroom activities, while the stalks also became something of a neighborhood landmark, with people even stopping to photograph them.
The destruction hit the children hardest.
“Some of my students began to cry, couldn’t understand why someone would do this,” Caballero told ABC7 New York in an Aug. 22 report.
It Wasn’t the Garden’s First Problem
Caballero said the corn was only the latest target. The school had already spent about $1,000 on barriers to protect the garden, only to have some disappear, while flowers and other plants had also been damaged, according to Patch.
After the corn was targeted and destroyed, Caballero said signs and balloons placed near the garden also disappeared. “I feel at this point we’re just being targeted,” she told Patch. The school has since purchased additional cameras.
The neighborhood responded to this vandalism with togetherness and support. Residents offered donations and encouragement, while ABC7 New York reported Aug. 22 that the New York City Parks Department helped restore the tree bed and added fresh mulch.
And the students are not giving up on their garden. Caballero told Patch that they plan to grow corn again. “Hard things happen in life, but it’s okay to start over,” she said. “Don’t give up.”