I teach at an innovative and award-winning, K-12th dual-language public charter school in Delaware with a diverse school student population - 50% are our students are minorities and 50% are low-income. All of our students study the Greek language and global studies. Our Title I school is located on the outskirts of Wilmington. I truly love working at a diverse school with a focus on global citizenship!
I teach food studies, African-American history, Advanced Placement human geography, and US history to 10th to 12th-grade students.
I am also the K-12th grade garden coordinator, advisor of "Girls Grow Greens" club, and one of the leaders of the Green Team on campus.
Our school is one of only a few schools in Delaware and in the country to receive the eco-schools USA Green Flag award for excellence in environmental action and learning. Recently, our school was honored to be selected as a 2020 U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon School!
Our Green Team has worked incredibly hard to implement several major projects to educate our students about how to be environmental stewards of the planet. For example, we now have a school vegetable garden with 34 raised beds, chickens, and goats.
My Project
The brightly colored vertical garden of 80 planters attached to our chain link fence in our garden with 34 raised beds will empower me to educate our nearly 2,000+ students about the importance of healthy eating and the importance of having pollinator plants for butterflies and bees. As the KN-12th grade garden coordinator, I have personally witnessed the tremendous value of teaching students about our food system. Additionally, female students in 9th-12th grades will participate in a weekly after school program titled "Girls Grow Greens" during the 2020-2021 school year. I am one of the only teachers currently hosting students on our school campus. They will help grow and harvest herbs in the planters. Moreover, they will learn about food justice, healthy eating, and eco-citizenship. Inspired by FoodQ pilot in Chicago, they will create culturally relevant meal kits featuring simple ingredients, including fresh herbs. The meal kit- a box filled with a 30 minute, 1-pot recipe and cooking demo, will include all of the ingredients to cook a healthy dinner. The recipes will be kid-friendly and community informed, incorporating local preferences into nutritionally balanced meals. Most importantly, my students will engage in civic action by completing this service-learning project. They will give back to our school community in need during a pandemic that has undoubtedly lead to a rise in food insecurity. Most critically, the planters make it feasible for me to offer SAFE and INTERACTIVE outdoor learning opportunities during COVID-19. Students can safely plant items in the planters while maintaining social distancing. This means I can have more students in the garden at any given time. Overall, students’ learning will be greatly enhanced by the expanded garden and by the newly created and relevant service learning opportunities. Now more than ever, students need to be outside for mental health.
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