A vegetable garden planted to help Gungahlin's most disadvantaged residents has earned a group of school students the honour of being named among Canberra's young citizens of the year.
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The Amaroo School students involved in the Duke of Edinburgh award program were named as winners in the group category of the 2016 Young Canberra Citizen of the Year.
The recognition came after they worked with the Gungahlin Uniting Church's Mustard Seed Food Bank to build a vegetable garden.
People with limited funds or going through a hard time can access the food bank for a $1 joining fee and a donation based on the amount of food taken.
One of the program's participants, Year 10 student Megan Telford, said they started with a bare patch of land.
"It was just a paddock, and we built it up and maintain it every week," she said.
"I'm really excited and proud because we worked very hard."
Her classmate, Chris Preston said the setup and design was hard work, but the group learnt valuable lessons along the way.
"[Duke of Edinburgh co-ordinator] Jamie Foster liaised with some people from the church and they decided it would be a good idea for us to help in the community, so we did," he said.
"We learnt how far apart certain plants should be and how to put vegetable beds together."
As well as learning skills outside the classroom, Megan said the group discovered about how important teamwork was in achieving their goal.
"I don't think we were aware of how hard it can be to work in a group when everyone's trying to achieve the same thing but everyone wants to do it a different way," she said.
"But we managed and it's been really rewarding."
Mr Foster said he was extremely proud of the students, who have been involved in other projects ranging from motor mechanics to a school garden and outdoor pizza oven.
"It's been fantastic representation for the students and I think it's a really good thing for them," he said.
