Southwest Elementary School

One of these goals of the gardens at Southwest Elementary School is to help students see the connection between what they eat and where is comes from. As with most schools, our school has a high rate of obesity among our students. Gardening allows them to have a vested interest in what they eat, and allows them to sample food items they may not have tried before. A second goal is to get our students outside more so they become more familiar with the many ecosystems which surround them. Many of our students get very little unstructured time outside. The days of exploring the woods and fields are gone. Getting students into the gardens, allowing them to plant, harvest and explore, will hopefully encourage like behavior at home. The third goal is to expand our classroom beyond the classroom walls. We have been able to have a covered structure built near our raised bed garden area. We have partnered with a local military group and they built picnic table to put under the covered area. Now our students can take their lessons outside. With this grant we can purchase seeds, plants, bushes and trees to fill the beds we have created.