Carissa Heine, sophomore Nutrition major
The room, nearly empty upon our arrival at 8:30am, was full with more than 30 people who made the trip out to Panorama Elementary for the Seed Change Demonstration Site Training on October 22, 2015. Each attendee, other than Leslie Pillen and myself, were grantees representing a PA school district selected to receive a Seed Change mini-grant for their schools’ various farm to school programs.
Carissa Heine at the Radio Park Elementary School garden
The group was diverse; from biology and FCS teachers, to history and computer technology teachers, to principals, to community educators, YMCA program directors, and foodservice directors, a wide array of training levels and specializations were represented. The farm to school programs of the districts were diverse too, including but not limited to school gardens, hydroponic/aquaponic systems, canning and food preservation classes, fry oil to biodiesel conversion projects in physics classes, and pre-K YMCA classes on nutrition and gardening. The training session celebrated the diversity and highlighted the resources and support available to all, and also provided opportunities to network and share stories among the school districts represented.
Let me back up, though. What is this “Seed Change” initiative? What is the National Farm to School Network? Why were Leslie and I present at this training session in the first place?
First, I’ll give the definitions we were provided with.
The National Farm to School Network (NFSN) is “an information, advocacy and networking hub for communities working to bring local food sourcing and food and agriculture education into school systems and preschools.”
Seed Change is an “initiative of the National Farm to School Network aimed at expanding grassroots farm to school activities state by state to support better health outcomes for children and economic opportunities for local farmers.” (Seed Change 2015 Communications Toolkit). Funded by the Walmart Foundation, Seed Change has given out 100 mini grants in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Louisiana to support current farm to school projects and programs and chosen two demonstration school sites per state. State College Area School District (SCASD) is one of two demonstration sites for PA, and therefore the gathering place for this grantee training session.
Attendees exploring the Radio Park Elementary garden.
The day was educational and inspiring as we heard about SCASD’s farm to school activities. We even took an hour to visit the school garden at Radio Park Elementary and hear first hand how it provides fresh produce to the district’s cafeterias. I even got to take some sprigs of herbs home to (try to) root and grow! We also heard animated presentations from high school teachers Jack Lyke and Andy Wilson about aquaponics in State High’s biology program, Paul Heasley on other food and agriculture education programs in SCASD, and Jim Eisenstein on the Farmer Comes to School Program. These presentations were examples of how diverse the implementation of farm to school can be; no single program looks the same at every school, even within the same district.
School garden volunteers sharing their experiences working with students in the garden
Student Farm Club and the Sustainable Food Systems Program are exploring opportunities for Penn State students to engage with these great programs going on at many of the schools around State College. We hope that through a partnership, we can help SCASD continue to grow their programs, while also helping Penn State students learn more about Farm to School, how to develop school gardens, and how to design hands-on curriculum for in the garden.
As a Nutritional Science major, people sometimes ask how my career path relates to my interest in sustainable agriculture and food systems. To me the connection is obvious—food. The NFSN is a real world program that provides the connection. It integrates many parts of the food system, including nutrition, offering a practical model of the relationships between fields often considered independently of one another—farming, food service, health, cooking, food safety, nutrition, food production, education, school lunch programs…As these programs grow and flourish, I hope that the next generation will grow up with an appreciation for their food, where it comes from, how they can prepare it, what it does to their bodies, and what it can mean for society. Food is not a fad; it is central to the systems that we participate in every day.