“You helped my students think critically”
by Wendy Jeffries, Executive Director, TasteWise Kids
Wondering if our Days of Taste program really makes a difference? Do kids really learn something from our 3 days together as they discover where their food comes from, cook together, and think about food in new ways? Does TasteWise Kids’ work with schools act as a catalyst for teachers to expand the learning beyond our time with them?
The answer is yes! Instead of me trying tell you how this all happens, I want to you to hear it from one of our school partners.
Sharicca Boldon is the Community School Coordinator at Margaret Brent Elementary Middle School in Baltimore City and sent us this email a few days ago when we reached out about starting to think about planning for next year. We love hearing how they are expanding upon what their kids learned thru our Days of Taste program and that the whole school is getting in on it.
Thank you for all of the work that you have done to bring your Days of Taste program to Margaret Brent. You may not realize just how much impact the program has had. The Days of Taste program has helped to inspire me to help students think critically about the food systems and more importantly how they can take action to impact food justice in their community. Since Days of Taste has come to our school, we have revitalized our community garden at Brent and leveraged it for hands-on lessons around gardening, climate change, nutrition, food access, etc. This past summer, students harvested food to distribute through our school pantry and it was a beautiful experience to witness both the student impact and recipient impact.
This fall, the 4th graders participating in Days of Taste program in the spring continued to harvest from the garden and learned how to make a fun, after school snack – salsa- from fresh vegetables.
Because students and teachers who have experienced working with TasteWise Kids have expressed a desire to continue to have farm/nature immersion experiences, we began coordinating with local growing/green spaces within walking distance of the school and have developed student programming that utilizes those spaces.
We have also launched an after school cooking club with in-school demos of healthy eating and are just beginning work on a school cookbook.
I truly appreciate your efforts with this program and I plan to be engaged in food justice ongoing so I’m sure I will see you around.
All the best,
Sharicca
Sharicca
I’m excited to see this school cookbook once it’s done and I am so heartened to hear that our work with their students has led them to “dig into” food and the food system in all of these important and creative ways. This is what TasteWise Kids is all about – empowering kids and their families to think about food in new ways and inspire a lifetime of healthy habits.
Are you a parent of a student who has participated with our Days of Taste program and has a great story to share about how your family is changing their eating habits? Are you a teacher who has helped your students expand their learning after working with us? Are you a chef or a farmer who has had kids come back and tell you that they remember making a salad with you or just call you a rock star?
We want to share more of these stories so please reach out to me at wjeffries@tastewisekids.org so we can feature your experience on a future blog post.