My students need a trip to the Irvine Ranch Outdoor Education Center. Our students are born and raised in urban Los Angeles, so most have never seen where their food comes from: this takes them there!
$931 goal
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month
This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because
it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.
Our school is a pilot school: part of the public school system, but with a little more flexibility. We've used that flexibility to establish two pathways: medical and engineering. All our students take four years of either medical or engineering electives, preparing to move into college programs focusing on careers in those categories.
While the school is located in a diverse, vibrant area, it's also unusual for students to get any experience with rural areas and agriculture.
Almost all of our students - 94% - are on free or reduced-cost lunch, and this class helps them see where their food and resources really come from, and what that involves. Our students come from Latino, Armenian, Korean, Thai, and Filipino backgrounds, among others, and are enthusiastic about becoming the next generation of engineers and medical providers. The pathways and the push for AP classes like this one have increased the number of students graduating on time and going off to college.
My Project
Many of my students have spent their whole lives in urban areas. They know their milk comes from cows and their food grew on a farm, but have not seen or really understood the work and science that goes into it. Students will tour one of the last orange groves in Orange County and learn about soil analysis, water quality and management, and agro-ecology and integrated pest management.
As part of a larger project on food insecurity and decreasing food waste, this field trip will help them understand how much energy it takes to create the orange they threw away because they weren't hungry.
Students will learn to be more conscientious consumers, and then be able to apply their knowledge in the garden we maintain on campus. They will pass this knowledge on to their friends and families, improving their community's health and environment!
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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 Ms. Hall and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
