Stories from School

The Joy of Garden Education Spreads Across a District

The 2022–2023 school year marked the conclusion of Krista Davis’ service to children and families as a FoodCorps AmeriCorps member at Mississippi’s Bell Academy; however, her service to the district would grow. During her four years at Bell Academy, Krista supported the development of the school’s garden, taught more than 1,000 hands-on lessons about food, secured grants, and built strong relationships with children and families—all bringing to light the power of food and garden education. When presented with testimonials from students and families about the impact food and garden education had on their lives, the Cleveland School District’s board of education voted to fund a full-time Health and Wellness Director position so that more students could experience the same kind of joy and incredible learnings. Krista got the job. As Health and Wellness Director, Krista will expand food and garden programming to all elementary schools throughout the district. “When kids touch, feel, plant, grow, harvest food, then eat it, there’s so many things that’ll last a lifetime. And they can teach others and their families,” says Krista.

The Sensory Experience 
of Trying New Foods

FoodCorps AmeriCorps Member Bridgette Byrd incorporated mindful, sensory awareness into her lessons to create memorable experiences for her students. “I want students to be aware of what they visually notice, how food smells, using descriptive words, and what their taste buds recognize during a tasting,” shares Bridgette. Last May, she introduced asparagus to a fourth grade science class after a lesson on vegetable properties, nutrients, and growth patterns. She set up the demonstration and taste test like a cooking show and shared tips on how to get an al dente texture. The students asked questions and commented throughout the demo. After licking the plates clean, every student gave ‘Amazing Asparagus’ the highest ranking possible and shared descriptive words about why they loved it from texture to smell. “One student said, ‘I feel like we’re in the audience of a cooking show with Mrs. Byrd.’ For me, that was the highlight of the day,” adds Bridgette. Watch Bridgette share how she’s cultivating community through food in Newark, New Jersey.

Connecting Media Messages, Body Image and Health in Rural Michigan

At Alanson Public School in rural Petoskey, Michigan, school officials asked FoodCorps AmeriCorps members to develop a series of lessons in response to observing students demonstrating unhealthy eating habits. Through an anonymous poll developed by FoodCorps AmeriCorps members, eighth graders were asked, “Where do you receive messages and ideas about food and bodies? How do you decipher between which food and body messages are true and false? How does this messaging, negative or positive, affect your relationships with food and your body?” In response to survey revelations—including the fact that many students received messages about body image from social media—School Nutrition Member Lauren Driscoll carefully developed a six-week lesson series, supported by Food Education Members Meghan Monaghan and Courtney Wilber. Each lesson included themes related to body image and healthful nourishment, and the preparation of a meal or snack in a fun and engaging way.  School officials noticed a remarkable change in students, including the demonstration of healthier eating habits. The series was such a success that neighboring districts asked that it be available to their students.

Turning Turnips Into 
Family Time

Jme (pronounced “jay-mee”) Dunlow met families where they were: in car rider lanes at school. As a FoodCorps AmeriCorps member, Jme provided hands-on food education lessons to students, while developing and implementing strategies to engage families as a part of FoodCorps’ Family Engagement Pilot. When a fellow member shared that a local high school’s garden had produced an overabundance of turnips, Jme rolled up her sleeves to ensure that the fresh, locally grown produce did not go to waste. Jme enlisted the support of students for harvesting, then created “turnip kits.” The kits—distributed to parents and caregivers during afternoon pick-up in the car rider lanes at local schools—included turnips and easy-to-make recipes that families could prepare together using simple ingredients found in most kitchens. “We felt it would be easier to talk to parents in the car rider lanes, and we knew the kits wouldn’t accidentally get left on school buses,” shared Dunlow. The kits were a hit! Jme is now affectionately referred to as “The Turnip Lady” in the Baldwin County School District where she continues to serve.

A Soul Food Lesson
Becomes a Cafeteria Staple

Shalynn “Shay” Brooks, a FoodCorps AmeriCorps member in New Bedford, Massachusetts, made national headlines by bringing Black history into classrooms and cafeterias. Working with the school district and Marion Institute, she developed several dishes based on her family’s traditional soul food recipes for her students to try. Shay paired the dishes with Black history lessons, teaching her students about lesser-known historical Black figures like James Hemings, the Black chef enslaved by Thomas Jefferson who created macaroni pie, the precursor to one of America’s most iconic and loved foods: mac and cheese. “The connection between food and Black history just wasn’t taught when I was growing up in schools,” Shay told a reporter. This past year, she introduced her students to collard greens. “The taste test went really well. The students tried and loved the greens,” adds Shay. Beyond Black History Month, some of the dishes will be added to the district’s rotating cafeteria menu year-round.

Plant-Based Possibilities

When she began her service in San Diego, California, Cierra Peterlin hoped to spread the joy of plants—plant-based lunch, that is! She was in luck: the district’s culinary specialist, Chef Juan Zamorano, was testing plant-based recipes to add to the menu. Cierra worked with Chef Juan to modify a beef taco recipe with a lentil-based crumble option. They gave the new dish a fun name—the Baja Bean Taco—and Cierra visited middle and high schools to offer students samples and get their feedback. “It was a major leap forward to be able to garner so much buy-in from the district-level food services staff as well as the staff at individual schools,” Cierra says. Though the meatless tacos aren’t a permanent menu item just yet, Cierra says the project illustrated the value of introducing kids to new foods. At one middle school tasting, a student lit up when he saw the tacos; his older brother at the neighboring high school had already tried them. “I love that moment,” Cierra says, “because it showed students and siblings connecting over what was being served at school lunch.”