Larue Mendes, 14 and Tyler Carew, 13, ninth-grade students at E{+3} Academy, Providence, and classmates spent an hour reading in the new garden at the school. Standing and reading, at right is Charlie Francisco, 15.

The Providence Journal / Frieda Squires

PROVIDENCE — E{+3} Academy is an imposing pink granite block carved out of a former factory in the city’s North End. It is committed to high expectations, a strong sense of community and academic rigor.

But nature is nowhere to be found in this neighborhood of densely packed triple-deckers.

This spring, Nicole Lepre, the visual arts teacher at E{+3}, decided it was time to add a touch of green to this urban landscape. Last year, she successfully applied for a $1,000 grant from Aramark Facilities Services of Providence, the company that maintains the district’s school buildings.

Today, in a sunny corner sandwiched between the parking lot and the school, a small garden blooms where weeds once ruled. The garden is still in its infancy, a cluster of black-eyed susans, a few spindly rain lilies and a couple of hibiscus wilting in the late-summer heat.

As Lepre wrote in her Aramark application, “It’s hardly a garden yet but we hold true to a vision — an outdoor class where students can act out scenes from a play, draw in perspective or have group discussions on how to solve an equation. Our goal is to have blossoming trees, colorful perennials, cement benches, flagstone areas for a walkway as well as large landscaping rocks for visual balance.”

One of the advantages of a small school is the ability of both students and staff to develop a sense of community, and Lepre hopes that this project will encourage students to respect the space.

“As the art teacher, adviser and overall stakeholder in our Providence students,” Lepre wrote in her application, “I feel an obligation to do everything in my power to make our students as proud of this school and themselves as I can.”

E{+3} students helped design the garden, which they planted this summer with a strong assist from Lepre, who watered the plants on a daily basis and prayed that the summer’s frequent thunderstorms would dump a little rain on Providence.

The hope is that teachers will hold classes outside, especially advisories, small-group gatherings in which students explore more personal goals, including preparation for college.

Two years ago, Lepre started a community advisory project planting annuals around the building and now students are on a waiting list to tend to this makeshift garden.

“Before this small-scale project, students didn’t know what annual flowers were,” Lepre said. “Now, they all know that it is perennials that we need — those that come back.

Meanwhile, Lepre is unsure of her future at E{+3}. The district has decided that high schools should offer music as well as art, so Lepre is scheduled to spend only one semester at E{+3}, and is expected to spend the spring semester floating between two elementary schools.

Because E{+3} is a site-based school and the principal has more control over class schedules, students here receive 90 minutes of art a week, a luxury that most art teachers only dream of.

“I welcome the return of music, but not at my expense,” Lepre said. “My heart is here.”

lborg@projo.com