McMeen Elementary

We have three main goals for our school garden:

1. For students to plant, grow, and harvest vegetables to be served in the school cafeteria. We are an inner-city school of students whose families fall mostly on the lower-end of the socioeconomic scale (87% poverty). Many of these students do not have regular access to fresh fruit and vegetables and end up eating a fair amount of processed food. We want to re-direct their minds and taste buds during this pivotal time when lifelong tastes and preferences are being developed. We work closely with our cafeteria manager to integrate the garden produce into the school menu.

2. To expand our garden program by using the garden to create an environment for experiential scientific inquiry and observation. We will do this by giving each grade a garden plot and providing specific lessons that connect to both the school curriculum and our state'