Students at Discovery Elementary School grew lettuce in their classrooms within a six week time period through a program called “Grow Lunch,” with the intent to promote healthy eating within the student body.
Students grew and harvested the equivalent of two giant bowls of washed and cut lettuce, prepared by the school cooks for “lettuce day,” last Friday. The day was highly anticipated by students and staff. When asked, overall, students were more excited to eat the lettuce they had grown themselves than on a normal salad day. According to Koopman, hot lunch participation was higher than usual on Friday, due to the unique lunch. Director Maralyn Splinter, who participated in distributing the lettuce agreed, “almost all of the kids participated in lettuce day, even those who took cold lunch.”
“It’s our Pre-school’s lettuce,” said Pre-Schooler Reilly as he proudly enjoyed the lettuce. “You kno
w, it’s better to eat it [lettuce] than to watch it grow, you know?”
Second grade teacher Beverly Koopman applied for a Statewide Health Improvement (SHIP) grant through the Wright County Public Health (WCPH) department in hopes of receiving funding for multiple “AeroGarden” incubators. The Incubators would be distributed amongst classrooms to grow various vegetables.
“We accepted this grant because we liked the idea that kids could learn about vegetables by growing them themselves,” said Representative Gretchen from WCPH. “It is a good investment of money because it’s not a one time thing, the students can continue to grow vegetables multiple times throughout the year.”
Each classroom (Pre-K through 5th grade) received an AeroGarden, and students were encouraged to participate in the growing of the lettuce while learning about vegetables.
“We all have it [AeroGarden’s] in our classrooms,” said First Grader Annika. “It grows up high while we’re at recess.”
The success and overall popularity of the growing process has reassured the continuation of the program with new vegetables grown in the AeroGarden. Because students responded so positively to the lettuce, teachers are now encouraging healthy eating habits at home. Discovery’s next project is for students to grow individual tomato and lettuce plants and take them home as Mother’s Day gifts.
“If you’re going to change healthy eating habits, you have to start at home,” said Koopman. “If parents help their kids nurture the plants at home, students see that it is very easy to maintain.”
