Fighting Obesity in Schools By Changing Eating Habits of Students

Fighting Obesity in Schools By Changing Eating Habits of Students

Summary

1. Summary:

The goal of my research is to change the eating habits of the students in our school system by starting gardens at all 22 schools in my district where the kids plant the vegetables, grow the plants, harvest the produce and have the cafeteria cook the vegies for the students to eat.  

Objectives/Performance Targets

1. Objectives/Performance Targets:

Obtain funding to provide materials necessary to implement a new garden. The materials needed for each garden include:

1. Cypress wood to construct raised bed garden boxes. 5’ long x 4’ wide and 8” tall. Two boxes are stacked on top of one another to create a 16” high raised bed.

2. Compost and soil to go into each bed.

3. Bags to hold the compost

4. Irrigation system to supply water to each raised bed.

5. Fertilizer to place in each bed.

6. Water keys to turn on and off the spigot

7. Steel rakes

8. Garden trowels

9. Gloves

10. Seed

11. Live plants

12. Cover crop

13. Insecticide for ants and bugs all organic

14. High tunnel at designated schools

15. Grow lights

16. Trays and 72 count seed cell packs

17. Six week education class on school gardening taught by Clemson University annually

18. Teachers selected to take the class by Principals

19. Multiple teachers must go through training at each school for sustainability

20. Curriculum Development for the teachers

21. Cafeteria Managers trained for food safety in preparing fresh produce; 200ppm bleach kill step in the GAP certification training on all produce brought in by students.

22. Select schools to prepare for and register in the GAP training through the SCDA.

23. Market each school to showcase the garden

24. At Risk Students performing better in these classes than traditional classes

Accomplishments/Milestones

1. Accomplishments/Milestones

   1. Cypress wood to construct raised bed garden boxes. 5’ long x 4’ wide and 8” tall. Two boxes are stacked on top of one another to create a 16” high raised bed.

      1. We are using cypress wood cut from a local sawmill in Ridgeville, SC (10 miles from the school) which is a natural product logged from our swamps around Summerville. We were using treated lumber, but want to get away from the chemicals in the pressure treated lumber. The cypress is durable and will last longer than untreated, painted lumber. The FFA students are building the boxes and constructing them so they snap together without requiring our teachers to use tools. Our multimedia class (students) made an instructional video for the teachers taking the school garden class to watch that takes them step by step through the puzzle of attaching the pieces correctly. (I will try to upload the video).   The wood is purchased in 10 foot and 8 foot sections from the sawmill. Ben Gibson, my Agricultural teacher, picks up the wood and brings it back to the school where the students in the Horticulture class cut it into 5’ and 4’ pieces. They have a jig set up to drill the holes in the female ends and make the male ends. We use 4” long dow rods to fit through the ends and keeping them from coming off.

2. Compost and soil to go into each bed.

   1. Bees Ferry Landfill in Charleston, SC makes its own compost which has been certified to use in organic gardening. We have worked out a deal where the schools in all three counties can obtain the compost free of charge. I have Murray Sand company, a local trucking company, picking up 16 to 25 tons and delivering it to either the schools with large gardens, or back to Ashley Ridge High where the students shovel the compost into 50lb bags, then zip tie them to be picked up by the teachers and used in the raised bed gardens. The compost must be blended with soil because the pH is at 8.0.

   2. Bags to hold the compost are purchased from Holly Hill Feed Company.

       

       

1. e. Irrigation materials have been purchased from WP Law. This drawing was done by Tim Charpia, Agricultural Engineer at WP Law and distributed to each teacher. Our Multi Media class will make an instructional video of how to construct the irrigation and will be taught by Zach Snipes, Clemson Extension Agent.

Fertilizer has been ordered through Holly Farm Center. I bought blood meal 12-0-0, Colloidal phosphate, and green sand which you blend together on a 1:1:1 ratio. Each of the 22 schools will pick up one bag of each product on April 22 when we have our hands on workshop at Ashley Ridge High.

1. Water keys to turn on and off the spigot

2. Steel rakes

3. Garden trowels

4. Gloves

   The garden tools have been purchased from Lowes.

                J.             Seed was purchased from Johnny’s Seed. For the spring garden I purchased Chinese Cabbage, Brocolli, Kale, Butter Crunch Lettuce, Big Beef Tomatoes.

                K.            Live plants and cover crop: I planted 22 flats/72 cell packs per flat of Oregano, two different basils, marjoram, dill, and thyme. Each school will receive on 72 flat of herbs to be planted in the raised bed as a cover crop for the summer when the teachers will be away from the garden. When the teacher returns in the fall they can pick herbs to use in the cafeteria.

                M.          Insecticides: I am using Spinosad to control ants in the raised beds. Pyganic and Azaguard are used to control any bug issues we would have. All of these products are organic.

                N.           High Tunnels: I purchased four high tunnels from Atlas in Georgia 16’ wide x 30’ long. The schools are currently constructing them. Dubose Middle, River Oaks Middle, Oak Brook Middle, and Reeves Elementary were given a high tunnel and will be the schools going through the GAP Certification.

                O.           Cell Packs and trays: Each school was given a 4’ grow light kit with the six packs of seed, Fafard 3-B grow mix, Four 72 cell packs with trays to start their seed for the spring.

                P.            Six Week Education Class: The class is being taught by Amy Dabbs, Clemson Urban Horticulturist who is also responsible for teaching the Charleston area Master Gardeners Class. I will send you the books and materials when I write the final dissertation for the grant. There is a great deal of information I want to convey under this section concerning the importance of the teachers being educated first, prior to receiving a raised bed garden. The materials incluse: Starting a community garden by Clemson University, Vegetable Garden Insect Guide, NRCS An Invitation to a Healthy Schoolyard, Lasagna Gardening text book by Patricia Lanza, Home Vegetable Gardening in South Carolina by Clemson. We also using the tri county area Master Gardeners as our garden coaches to assist the teachers and provide expertise to a lot of teachers who are uncertain about how to grow vegetables. The Master Gardenes have been a great help to the teachers and our school district. We had two hands on classes for the Master Gardeners where we went through the rules of becoming a garden coach at a school.

                Q.           Teachers selected to take the course. I contact the principal of each school and give them the criteria by which I would like for them to use in selecting the teachers. The course we offer cost $150 per teacher. The principal should select a teacher who first and foremost has the passion for gardening, is a good teacher as evaluated by the principal, has the time to dedicate to the program and building the program.

                R.            Boeing Grant Funding: I have received money from Boeing through The College of Charleston and Olivia Thompson, PhD. Who teaches in the Department of Health Sciences. They gave me $24,000 last year to start the gardens and $31,000 this year to expand them.  I have purchased all of the materials needed to start and expand the gardens with the money Boeing has given me.

3. Accomplishments/Milestones

                I now have 22 gardens in the school district. My Superintendent has supported me with this initiative and agreed to give the teachers a professional day to attend the hands on workshops. With the money from Boeing I have been able to expand the existing gardens to the point that four of the schools are now seeking GAP certification through the USDA. At Ashley Ridge High School we have seen a 570% increase in vegetable sales from last year when we did the study over a six week period from the previous year. This year we have sold out of every vegetable offered from the farm (Fresh Vegetables) the kids during lunch, which shows the impact the program is having on the kids eating habits. My goal is to continue the teacher training that will sustain the program at each school. We will offer the teachers 15 hours of continuing education credit through Clemson for completing the course.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

1. Impacts

   1. We have also been able to keep a number of at risk students in school through the hands on teaching approach in the horticulture classes. The kids have connected with the teacher, a certified agricultural teacher, the hands on work that is required to create and sustain a garden. We require all students to be passing every class if they desire to go on any FFA field trip. The field trips go to the State Fair where the kids compete in different competition, where the at risk kids are usually pretty good at some of these events.  

   2. 570% increase in vegetable sales from farm fresh veggies.

   3. I have brought in to the cafeteria over 200 lbs of kale, mustard greens, Chinese cabbage, and spinach in the last three weeks. The cafeteria staff cooks the vegetables using fresh minced garlic, olive oil, and chicken base mixed with water. The veggies are chopped and placed in a large braising container that cooks them. Certified South Carolina Grown signs are placed at the counter where the students can see the vegetables and, with our reputation, order the fresh veggies as an alacart order. We have sold out every time we cook vegetables.

   4. We had 31 teachers go through the School Garden class last year and now have enrolled 40 in the current class. The class is six weeks in length and covers :

      I will submit the e-Extension information about the class seperate since the files are so large.