This project is part of the Black History Month celebration because it supports a Black teacher or a school where the majority of the students are Black.
My Students
Our school is a rural school in southeast Louisiana. All students at our school receive free breakfast and lunch. Our community is not a wealthy community, but they are rich in community spirit. In the beginning of the school year, a local church invited our entire faculty in for a lunch and prayer. At that lunch, the church pledged to support us as much as possible with prayers, manpower and finances as available.
Our parents often work multiple jobs to make ends meet.
The children needed a safe place to be supervised after school hours while their parents work. This prayer lunch inspired us to collaborate with local businesses to help build up our free after-school program. Through local and federal grants and business sponsors, we now have a free after school program for students in grades three to five. We have found our students are most interested in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) classes so we made our after school program a STEAM-focused program. In our program, we have a science lab, a coding class, a computer literacy class, a maker lab, music/dance class and the "math and science of cooking".
My Project
I teach the "math and science of cooking class". I have secured a skillet, griddle, and blender through garage sales and salvage stores. Our students have been wonderful about sharing our limited supplies. The requested blenders would allow us to have four groups working at one time. We tried purchasing cheap blenders in the past and they just didn't crush the ice. We need better blenders so that the students can be more successful in their Chopped! competitions. After experimenting and learning about different ingredients, I allowed the students to create their own smoothie recipes. These smoothies were then judged by administration. Sadly the poor blenders just didn't cut it, literally. These new blenders and extension cords will allow us to do so much more.
Since our school is such high poverty, our local food bank has partnered with us to provide all the perishables for our cooking class.
We just need the equipment. Your donation to our program would help in many aspects. (1) The students will be mastering math and science standards through fun, hands-on activities. (2) You would be meeting an essential need. Our school is 100% free lunch. For some students, the meal they prepare in our after school program is their only dinner. (3) You are developing a generation of students who are learning the joy of cooking and are spending more time as a family. We have had parents reporting that their children are joining them in the kitchen to help prepare meals. (4) You can help us fight obesity as we teach students about healthy food preparation and calories that need to be expended when they choose to splurge on those special treats.
Please help us to continue our popular after school cooking class.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Mixon and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
