FLINT, Mich. (AP) - Fifth- and sixth-grade students at Flint’s Freeman Elementary School want their peers nationwide to know what they have learned from a year of growing their own food indoors.
On Monday, April 13, they unveiled the Student Good Food Charter forming the Student Food Council of America to promote their Classroom Farming curriculum and the importance of growing harvests.
In attendance were Michigan legislators to learn more about the students’ experiences with the Classroom Farming curriculum including Derrick Mathis, regional manager at the Office of Sen. Debbie Stabenow; state Rep. Dan Lauwers, chairman of Committee on Agriculture; and other members of the committee.
Its creators say it is the nation’s first year-long program with a science, technology, engineering and mathematics emphasis.
Blaire Baker, co-creator of Classroom Farming, said it teaches students about indoor farming and agriculture. They shared what they learned with Michigan representatives.
“They are seeing first-hand the Farm on Wheels learning tool, which is the first of its kind in the country, where students are actually growing these products inside the classroom,” Baker told The Flint Journal (https://bit.ly/1PjEejw ).
Prior to the presentation, a few students gave an explanation to guests about the Farm On Wheels - a mobile indoor ecosystem used to grow and harvest vegetables, herbs, fruits and spices.
The students of Freeman Elementary created Classroom Harvest, a student-run food bank and raised funds by selling produce they’ve grown at the Flint Farmers’ Market in downtown Flint.
The Student Food Council of America is a student conceived, designed, managed and focused organization. With more than 54 million students in the U.S. between grades K-12, the Student Food Council of America can help peers understand what constitutes healthy food.
The purpose is to help families, nutritionists, school administrators and food systems be informed of the good food policy.
Dasani Jackson, 12, says that participating in programs like this makes her more aware of the food her family buys in stores. She said she enjoys growing her own food instead.
“It’s actually better, because we know what we put in our food and how we make it,” Jackson said. “When we buy food from the grocery stores or farmers markets, we don’t know where that’s been or where it was growing.”
Bob Hooper, former technologist of Flint Community Schools and co-creator of Classroom Farmers, said most of the students are on Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) benefits for food. A project of growing cucumbers with the students sparked the idea to start the initiative.
“We started talking about food and when the EBT system went down and probably most of them are on EBT. I said, ’How did that impact your parents?’ and they all got wide-eyed and said it was really scary,” Hooper recalled. “It was one of those moments where you go, ’Wouldn’t it be cool if you could grow some of your food?’”
For information, visit studentfoodcouncil.org.
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Information from: The Flint Journal, https://www.mlive.com/flint
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