Science Leadership Academy

With this grant, students will be involved in projects over a 2 year period. First, the grant will provide seeds and materials like soaker hoses, tools, soil, and gloves to maintain the garden. In addition, several raised bed boxes are decaying and will need to be replaced. Water hoses decay and need to be replaced. Other things we will need include fertilizer and books on how to garden.

The second part of this grant will be funding the building of cold weather frames in the winter and warm weather frames for the summer. This is part of STEM curriculum, where we work with engineers from the community to design and then build "greenhouses". An example of the project can be found here: bit.ly/rocketgreenhouse and bit.ly/gardenstructure

The third goal, which is a big stretch, is to rent a commercial kitchen in which to prepare and eat the food from the garden. I believe students should not only have access to good, healthy, organic fruits and vegetables, but they should learn how to prepare them and enjoy the food in the company of their peers. West Philadelphia's Enterprise Center has a brand new teaching and commercial cooking kitchen that can be rented by the hour. Funds from this grant would be used to purchase ServSafe training for me or another volunteer, and rental space time. If we have to purchase cooking tools, we will use this grant to also purchase tools. The principal of our school has agreed to allow cooking in the Enterprise Center to become part of our curriculum and supports the application of all parts of this grant.