Windermere secondary student Cassandra Ly has far more on her mind than the next math quiz or English exam.

Ly and classmate Brendan Chan, both 17 and in Grade 12, manage what's likely the most elaborate student-led organic garden in the school district.

Dubbed the Little Big Garden, according to its website, the garden sits in the centre courtyard of the East Side high school and focuses on local and sustainable gardening practices. It produces food and herbs for Windermere's school cafeteria and acts as an outdoor classroom for the entire student body.

Ly and Chan direct the garden project through the school's leadership program. More than 70 leadership students from Grades 9 through 12 are involved in day-to-day operations.

Former Windermere students Christie Leung and Nicole Wood founded the garden in 2007. It's grown from five eight-foot-by-12-foot plant beds to 13 beds and features an industrial-scale "earth-tub" for composting, a verma compost, a 16-by-20-foot greenhouse and an aquaponics system--a combination of hydroponics and aquaculture, which uses fish and plants to create a closed-loop system. The plants in the system benefit from the fish waste, and in return clean the water for the fish.

Cargo Bike Co-op and PEDAL recently donated two bike trailers, which students in the school's leadership 10 class started using last week to pick up compost material from several of Windermere's elementary feeder schools and the Renfrew Community Centre, as part of their physical education class.

The compost material is dumped into Windermere's earth-tub and will be used in the garden and distributed to feeder schools that are starting gardens or have their own gardens.

Windermere's organic garden website was created late this summer and features gardening tips, video tutorials and recipes.

"Brendan and I worked on it and Brendan created it as outreach to neighbours and community members," explained Ly.

Students have earned support from teachers, as well as groups such as the Environmental Youth Alliance, Evergreen, Slow Food Vancouver and Vancouver Coastal Health.

Ly and Chan keep journals about the project and ensure there are enough volunteers for work parties, as well as apply for grants, with help from the leadership program teacher, to support and expand the garden.

Ly became interested in the project after her sister was involved and because she's interested in local agriculture practices and sustainability.

"I found it's a great passion of mine," she said, adding Chan has worked as an intern with the Environmental Youth Alliance.

Although the garden has grown rapidly in three years, more plans are in the works.

"Our biggest challenge is to incorporate more non-leadership students. That's our biggest goal," Ly said.

Students started a mini orchard this year, which includes three fruit trees--persimmon, fig and apple. "We're hoping to see how they go and once they've grown a bit we're going to add in more fruit trees," Ly said.

Windermere principal Robert Schindel is impressed by the students' efforts and said the school is unique for its comprehensive organic gardening program. "We've had visitors from across Canada coming to look at this. We've had a professor from the University of Oregon come up and look at what the kids have done," he said, adding that the program is distinctive particularly because it's student-led.

"Since the project happens at the centre of the school, it's in the forefront of students' minds."