Youth Voice

Two Farm to School Stories Inspire the Vermont Farm to Plate Network

Sarah — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 15:09:25 +0000

Two Farm to School Stories Inspire the Vermont Farm to Plate Network Sarah Tue, 02/04/2025 - 10:09

“During my garden internship in 2023, Vermont had a very big flood. It took out our school garden, and my learning went from focusing on how to maintain and clean the garden to how to become a leader through adverse times and creating a future plan. I want to work with like-minded people who want to keep the land for future generations and preserve it now.”

–Edwin Lynds, Senior, Woodstock Union High School’s C.R.A.F.T. Program (Community and Climate Resilience through Agriculture, Forestry & Technology)

The 2024 Farm to Plate Network Gathering brought together over 300 of Vermont’s food system champions to explore making meaningful changes to meet the strategic goals of the Vermont Farm to Plate Investment Program:

Increase sustainable economic development and create jobs in Vermont’s food and farm sector
Improve soils, water, and resiliency of the working landscape in the face of climate change
Improve access to healthy local foods for all Vermonters

But, this work isn’t just relevant to the adult attendees, as these outcomes affect the present and future of Vermont’s youth, too. Two groups demonstrated the power of engaging students during the gathering’s storytelling hour, as they shared their experiences connecting learning and school meals with Vermont’s agricultural community.

C.R.A.F.T.: Learning Through Interdisciplinary Partnership

Students from Woodstock Union High School’s C.R.A.F.T. Program (Community and Climate Resilience through Agriculture, Forestry & Technology) shared how hands-on, food systems courses are informing their career goals and shaping their understanding of the role they can play in building a more sustainable future.

Storytellers: Janis Boulbol, Educator; Abbie Castriotta, Gardens & Greenhouses Manager; Luca Morris, WUHS senior; Edwin Lynds, WUHS senior

Educator Janis is Boulbol is an alumni of our Education for Sustainability Immersion program. Read more about her work.

From Cartons to Community: The Power of Organic Milk in Schools

“The culture that Vermont has around food is profound and amazing. We have a unique sense of pride. We live next to some of the best farms in the world. In my district, our school motto is ‘Vermont food for Vermont kids.’ And we're really blessed that we have Universal School meals here in Vermont, because it enables us to do what we do wholeheartedly and really lean into things like this and the next big idea.” –Harley Sterling

Discover the story behind a groundbreaking partnership between Miller Farm in Vernon, VT and Windham Northeast Supervisory Union, where innovative thinking and shared values are bringing local organic milk to schools. Farmer Pete Miller and School Nutrition Director Harley Sterling share how this collaboration is reducing waste, supporting local agriculture, and reshaping the future of school nutrition.

Storytellers: Harley Sterling, School Nutrition Director, Windham Northeast Supervisory Union; Pete Miller, Organic Dairy Farmer & Processor, Miller Farm

Windham Northeast Supervisory Union is a district-wide alumni team of our Northeast Farm to School Institute, a partnership program with NOFA-VT.

Sarah Webb

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Meet a Changemaker: Educator Janis Boulbol

Professional learning alumnae Janis Boulbol and Kat Robbins spearhead climate education and action in their school.

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Honoring Identity in the Classroom: Students Embrace Their Food Story

Vermont Teacher of the Year Aziza Malik explores how food, like storytelling, connects us all.

Climate Action and Food Waste: One School's Story

A case study in empowering students—and reducing waste—from Norwich, Vermont’s Marion W. Cross Elementary School.

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January 21, 2025

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Climate Action and Food Waste: One School's Story

aestey — Thu, 05 Dec 2024 15:04:48 +0000

Climate Action and Food Waste: One School's Story aestey Thu, 12/05/2024 - 10:04

A case study in empowering students—and reducing waste—from Norwich, Vermont’s Marion W. Cross Elementary School

Chrissy Morley (left), environmental and experiential education coordinator at Marion Cross Elementary, and some of the fifth grade students who spearheaded efforts to reduce and divert food waste in their school.

Sixteen pounds of watermelon. Fourteen pounds of cheeseburgers and buns. Six pounds of waffle fries. This, students calculated, was the amount of food waste generated during a single lunch period at Marion W. Cross Elementary School. On average, each lunch service resulted in 33 pounds of food waste. “That’s only slightly less than the weight of one second grader,” says a fifth-grade student.

America throws away almost 40 percent of its food supply each year, with major environmental consequences. If wasted food goes to the landfills, it produces methane, a highly potent greenhouse gas. The production of this wasted food generates the equivalent of 32.6 million cars’ worth of greenhouse gas emissions every year.

In food waste, the students, staff, and administrators of Marion Cross found an opportunity to take meaningful climate action. “For kids to feel empowered that they can actually do something about climate change is super important,” says Chrissy Morley, environmental and experiential education coordinator at Marion Cross in Norwich, Vermont. “If we use food as a way of empowering kids to be part of the change that we need to see in the world, we’ll have young people that feel like they have some agency.”

In her role, Morley brings K–6 science standards to life through all kinds of experiential learning, including learning in the school’s sugarhouse and garden, pictured here. “I already knew that teaching with food fosters connection—with the living world, with the curriculum and across disciplines, and with each other and the wider community,” says Morley.

Morley and teacher Devin Burkhart used food waste to involve their students in advancing a district-wide climate action plan. “Kids don’t have a lot of power over what kind of vehicles their parents drive or what kind of windows or insulation go into our buildings. But what does involve kids is food,” says Morley.

Below are the steps that Marion Cross’ fifth graders took to audit their school’s waste; to better understand their food system; and to spread their findings and make change in their school and community. Use these steps as inspiration for involving your own students in climate action through food.

Researching the Problem and Connecting to Global Issues

Fifth graders at Marion Cross identified a problem: their school produced a lot of food waste. On par with the average American, students tossed one-third of the food they were served. Compost buckets overflowed with all kinds of scraps, and often entirely uneaten items. With further investigation, the problem got more complex.

Students learned that their food waste was often highly contaminated with non-compostable items like wrappers and plastic bags (pictured). The group also discovered that their waste was being used to make compost that “caps” landfills (i.e., covers trash). “This was definitely not the spirit of our composting efforts,” says Morley.

Morley and Burkhart’s fifth graders learned about the environmental impacts of food waste on soil health and watersheds, and why composting matters. And they made connections between other topics they’d explored in science class—nutrient cycling, eutrophication, ecosystems, and decomposition—back to the food system.

Students were fired up, and they developed a hypothesis: Education about food waste for students and staff plus improved food quality in the cafeteria would result in less waste. In students’ words: “We could then compost or divert the waste we do produce, and help save the planet!”

Collecting Quantitative and Qualitative Data

To quantify the problem, fifth graders conducted a food waste audit using EPA guidelines. They collected two weeks of data on lunch food waste, categorizing and weighing every item that was thrown out compared to the total weight of food served.

There was qualitative data collected, too: Students conducted post-lunch interviews with their peers as they exited the cafeteria to better understand which items were most popular, why items were thrown away, how students would rate the quality of food they were served, and how they’d suggest improving school lunch.

The data showed that, in one student’s words, “We make a lot of waste.” Students eating school lunch—about half of the 337 students at Marion Cross—generated 60 gallons of compost each week. Add in waste from lunches brought from home, snacks, breakfast, and kitchen prep, and the amount only grows.

Meeting with School and Community Partners

Source: EPA

To inform their next move, students consulted the EPA’s food recovery hierarchy, which prioritizes the actions organizations can take to prevent and divert wasted food. “When you look at the hierarchy, we know composting is not the complete answer. What you really want to do is to not produce so much food waste to begin with,” explains Morley.

Students formed an environmental club so that they could devote more time to working on the problem. The group interviewed Marion Cross’ food services manager to better understand school lunch requirements and guidelines. “Food systems are complex and highly interrelated, so building a strong team for this kind of work is essential,” Morley says. The conversation revealed an opportunity to educate students and staff about food waste, and to shift to “offer versus serve.” In food service, “offer versus serve” is the difference between offering students a choice of what goes on their tray (while still meeting nutritional guidelines) rather than loading all available food options onto their plate. Offering instead of serving can dramatically reduce food waste.

Students presented their ideas to the Norwich school board. Said one student: "Our future matters."

Based on their findings, the club generated a list of recommended next steps—and presented their ideas to the Norwich school board. Says student Stahv of the experience, “I really liked how the environmental club brought lots of different people together around a shared passion: saving the Earth! And I like making presentations to people outside of the school about our work, especially to the school board.”

“We teachers could have presented to the school board, but because the kids did the presentation, it was heard so much more loudly. They spoke with such passion, and they were so fired up,” says Morley. “For them to feel like their voices have been heard on this issue was great…students’ voices really do have power.”

Taking Action

Vermont master composter Cat Buxton talks with Marion Cross students around their old on-site compost system. This system could only handle about 10% of the school’s waste; come 2025, a new system will handle all campus food waste.

The school board and food service staff listened, and changes began to happen quickly, including improved communication and clarity in the cafeteria around “offer versus serve.” Says Morley, “Starting the next day, kids were offered a clearer choice for what went on their tray.” Students also launched a peer-to-peer education campaign about why food waste matters, what choices they have for what goes on their tray, and what belongs in the compost.

There’s a major shift underway in how Marion Cross composts, too: Rather than sending the majority of their waste across state lines, Morley and her students are working with Vermont master composter Cat Buxton through the Upper Valley Super Composter Program to establish an advanced composting system right on school grounds. Marion Cross is one of ten schools in the region to get a post-and-beam structure, large capacity compost bins, and material support and expertise. When it’s completed in 2025, the structure will handle all campus food waste. “The compost we make will be used to grow more food, allowing us to come much closer to our goal of ‘closing the food loop,’” explains Morley. In addition to the cafeteria, every classroom is now composting; fifth and sixth graders help empty the compost around the building into the on-site system every day. “I like getting my hands dirty with the compost!” shares student May. “I love food, so that feels important.” Adds student Etta, “I am most excited about teaching other kids at our school about the stuff we’ve learned, like how and why to compost.”

Another significant shift implemented at Marion Cross this year was flipping the school’s schedule to put recess time before lunch. “That was a huge identified source of food waste, that kids were throwing away almost their entire lunch in order to get out to recess,” explains Morley. Research confirms that this simple schedule switch helps increase the consumption of fruits and vegetables.

Morley says collaboration continues with food service staff to get more local, culturally-relevant, and kid-prepared food in the cafeteria. Occasionally, students will harvest items from the garden and prepare them for the cafeteria’s salad bar, like basil pesto and pickles; the principal will give these items a shout-out in morning announcements. And, the school just received a grant to support getting more locally-grown, kid-prepared foods in the school lunch program.

The work continues this school year and beyond. Morley aims to redo the food waste audit with students to see how they’ve moved the needle, and report the results back to the school board. She’s also exploring ways to get unserved food to local families in need, and to local farms to use as animal feed. On students’ wishlists for the coming year: getting chickens to help eat food scraps, adding more vegetarian choices to the lunch menu, and taking a field trip to see a larger composting operation in action. “I’m really excited to be part of the compost project and I’m proud that the work we did in the environmental club made that possible,” says student Theo M.

“We still have work to do, but we have a team that feels mutually supportive,” Morley says. “It’s exciting to see the progress.”

Chrissy Morley presented this work at the Northeast Farm to School Institute in Summer 2024.

Find out more about the Northeast Farm to School Institute

Andrea Estey

For Educators

Climate Action

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Youth Voice

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Strengthening Farm to School with Community Partnerships & Youth Voice

What really matters when it comes to youth voice and Farm to School? We spoke with a NYC 2020 Farm to School Institute team to find out what has proven successful for them.

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Nutrition, Taste, and Cost: Balancing Priorities in the School Cafeteria

School nutrition professionals gathered with Vermont FEED to consider how to feed students nourishing meals on a budget — that they will actually eat.

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Getting REAL: A Framework for Climate Change Education

Climate change education specialist Joan Haley writes about the best practices of equity-centered climate change education—and shares hopeful stories of the educators and learners already doing this work in our region.

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December 6, 2024

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Farm to School Education in Montpelier is Building Resilience

Sarah — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 13:31:34 +0000

Farm to School Education in Montpelier is Building Resilience Sarah Wed, 10/23/2024 - 09:31

Vermont Secretary of Agriculture, Food and Markets Anson Tebbetts, Shelburne Farms Institute for Sustainable Schools Farm to School Director Betsy Rosenbluth, and U.S. Senator Peter Welch join Montpelier High School students for a local lunch. Photo by Sarah Webb

“What’s so inspiring to me is you’re solving big challenges by creating a local agricultural economy and a cleaner, more sustainable environment. It takes work, it takes effort. It takes more than just saying you want a solution—we all do—it’s about doing it.” –U.S. Senator Peter Welch

In celebration of National Farm to School Month, U.S. Senator Peter Welch and Vermont Secretary of Agriculture, Food and Markets Anson Tebbetts visited Montpelier High School (MHS) to see the farm to school program firsthand and understand how the school integrates food systems education throughout the curriculum and school meals. The event was organized by the Vermont Farm to School & Early Childhood Network, of which we are a member.

Sarah Webb

Students show Senator Welch the greenhouse where lettuces are being grown for the school cafeteria salad bar.
Sarah Webb

U.S. Senator Peter Welch and Vermont Secretary of Agriculture, Food and Markets Anson Tebbetts share remarks following the student tour.

MHS students toured the Senator and Secretary through the greenhouse and gardens, pointing out the colorful greens destined for the cafeteria salad bar; ripening peppers students will cook down into hot sauce and bottle for sale; and abundant beds of kale, squash, herbs, and more for the student-run crêpe cart business, which raises money for student travel scholarships.

“We run the crêpe cart at the Capitol City Farmers’ Market,” explained Student Manager of the cart, Veda Gahagan. “We source most ingredients from our school gardens and the market itself.” Students learn all aspects of a small business, including budgeting, foodservice, marketing, and cooking. “I met a lot of farmers, and I know where all the ingredients are coming from,” shares Veda. “It’s special meeting so many members of this community, and I feel connected to Montpelier and Vermont.”

French teacher Brigitte Savard and students prepare lunch in the crêpe cart, a student-run operation that raises funds for student travel scholarships. Photo by Sarah Webb.

Vermont Secretary of Agriculture, Food and Markets Anson Tebbetts shared his admiration for the students’ work, “They’re learning how to take the food they grow, make it into a product, sell it, make a business plan, and develop relationships.”

The MHS farm to school efforts have not been without challenges, including recent flooding that devastated their gardens and infrastructure, but the teachers and students worked through the obstacles. “Food systems are complex, and that brings in rigor, constant critical thinking, and problem solving,” explains educator Tom Sabo. “When things go wrong here, it is an educational opportunity, a whole new lesson plan.”

“Everything that we saw here, the students did,” Senator Welch remarked following the tour. “The environmental champions in our society are the young people. And Montpelier students are showing us that it isn't just about advocating and having the expectation that someone else will solve a big problem. It’s about taking on the responsibility yourself.”

Every student participates in farm to school at some point during their time at MHS. Whether it’s working in the greenhouse, keeping bees, making and selling value-added products, tending to the school’s flock of chickens, taking culinary skill-building classes, or maintaining the pick-your-own community food security garden, students have ample opportunities to explore sustainable food systems.

MHS student Sam Boyce presents student-made hot sauce and honey to guests Senator Welch and Secretary Tebbetts. Photo by Sarah Webb.

“The Food, Farm, and Society class has really helped me to understand what a food system actually is and how everyone contributes to it,” student Sam Boyce shared. “And, being able to work in the gardens has taught me a lot of life experiences, especially because it was technically the first job that I’ve ever had.”

The benefits run deep; students may not always be interested in farming as a career, but they value a local agricultural economy. “We create educated consumers,” Tom Sabo continues. “Consumers that understand that the price tag isn't the only cost associated with the food we buy. Consumers that are willing to pay a fair price for food that benefits the environment, local farmers, and the local economy.”

Vermont schools spend 20 million dollars annually on school food, and the farm to school movement is working to include more farmers in that economic opportunity. The Vermont Agency of Education’s Local Food Incentives program and the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets’ farm to school grant programs have supported the expansion of Vermont products served in Vermont schools. “Now, we have over 100 Vermont farmers and producers selling to school meal and early childhood programs,” shared Network Coordinator Dana Hudson.

Following the tour, the teachers and students sat down with the Senator and Secretary for lunch in the cafeteria. On the menu: fresh-off-the-griddle, student-made buckwheat crêpes with local tomato, pesto, and mozzarella.

“[The Vermont delegation in Washington] is proud of Vermont’s Farm to School program and Universal School Meal program. The implementation is what you’re doing here, and you’re seeing the benefits,” noted Welch. “Montpelier High School is such an inspiration. If my colleagues and I could learn these lessons of cooperation and effort, I think we’d be better off not just in Montpelier, but all around the country.”

Montpelier is an alumni of the Northeast Farm to School Institute, a program of Shelburne Farms Institute for Sustainable Schools and NOFA-VT, and was recently awarded a Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food, & Markets grant to support the purchase of a new food trailer to expand their culinary entrepreneurship offerings.

Watch event coverage from My Champlain Valley

Learn more about the statewide programs supporting schools and early childhood programs in deepening student connections to local food systems:

The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food, & Markets (VAAFM) Farm to School & Early Childhood Capacity Building Grant provides financial and technical assistance to schools or early childhood education organizations looking to develop or expand their farm to school programs. Application due November 14.
The VAAFM Farm to Institution Market Development Grant supports market development opportunities for local food producers and processors, with a focus on Vermont institutional markets. Application due October 23.
The VAAFM Farm to School and Early Childhood Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Grant reimburses early childhood education providers and after school programs for the cost of a CSA share. Applications open in early 2025.
The VAAFM Farm to School and Early Childhood Vision Grant supports innovative projects that engage youth in addressing contemporary problems through farm to school and early childhood activities. Applications open March 2025.
The Vermont Agency of Education Local Foods Incentive Grant provides a financial incentive to school districts and supervisory unions that meet local purchasing targets in their school meal programs. Application due December 9.
Shelburne Farms Institute for Sustainable Schools and NOFA-VT’s Northeast Farm to School Institute, a unique year-long professional learning opportunity for selected school, district, or early childhood teams from New England and New York. Applications open later this year.
The USDA Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grant Program supports launching new farm to school programs or expanding existing efforts.

Sarah Webb

Education Impact

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Montpelier's Soulful Soup: Uniting the School Community Through Food

Montpelier High School's inaugural Solon Soup for the Soul stands as a testament to the enduring power of collaboration, compassion, and the simple act of sharing a meal.

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Connecting Students to Vermont's Dairy Farms

June is National Dairy Month, and we're highlighting a longtime program connecting farmer and students: Dairy in the Classroom.

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October 23, 2024

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In BCL, The City is Both Classroom and Curriculum

aestey — Mon, 07 Oct 2024 18:09:06 +0000

In BCL, The City is Both Classroom and Curriculum aestey Mon, 10/07/2024 - 14:09

Burlington City & Lake begins its 13th semester of immersive, place-based learning for high school juniors and seniors

Already this fall, BCL’s 22 students have engaged with several community partners to deepen their understanding of place, including Burlington’s lead urban park ranger Neil Preston. (Photos: Burlington City & Lake)

A quick Google search for news about Burlington will give you a window into the challenges and possibilities facing Vermont’s largest city. But reading the news is, of course, no substitute for getting to know a place firsthand. In Burlington City & Lake Semester, a program for Burlington High School juniors and seniors offered by Shelburne Farms and the Burlington School District, students learn about their community not through screens or textbooks but through hands-on, immersive experiences.

Burlington City & Lake (BCL), now in its 13th semester, uses the city as both classroom and curriculum in pursuit of understanding what it means for a community to thrive. Students spend several full days each week off-campus talking with the people that call their city home, consulting with officials and community leaders, exploring streets and parks, learning the history of various neighborhoods, immersing in cultures, and reflecting on their experiences through creative and investigative projects. Along the way, young people develop a sense of care for Burlington—and themselves—as citizens and community members.

The program recently welcomed Christie Beveridge (left) as a teacher, who facilitates the program with teacher Dov Stucker and BCL fellow Emily Taylor. “All education should be like this,” says Christie, whose background includes 18 years as a classroom teacher and, most recently, several years as a program director with UP for Learning. “I wish every student could get this type of experience. BCL is a special combination of real-world, relevant learning, and we form a community that can be vulnerable with each other in a way that students often can’t in traditional classroom settings.”

Already this fall, BCL’s 22 students have engaged with several community partners to deepen their understanding of place. They’ve taken a walking tour of the city’s Old North End neighborhood with Judy Dow (below, right), an artist, educator, and historian who is of French Canadian and Abenaki descent; met with Burlington’s lead urban park ranger Neil Preston; and talked with a panel of local organizers about the housing crisis. Students then dug deeper, exploring several frameworks related to equity and justice—and filling pages of their notebooks with questions and reflections.

In students’ words:

“The first walk with Judy was very personal and captivating as we were able to listen and essentially observe what many people who lived in the margins had to go through. I really learned more about the history of Burlington in the hour-long walk than I did in the majority of social studies or history classes I have taken. It was also very interesting to hear about the darker side of Burlington history, as I had zero idea that there was such an oppressive period in our city.” —BCL student Remy

“There are a lot of flaws in Burlington and in this state, but there’s also hope. There are people working to better our city, and it makes me wish I could do more. Maybe with more people knowing about these details, more people will volunteer. These experiences are very different from the normal school stuff I’ve done before, but I’m glad to get more involved instead of being stuck at a desk.” —BCL student Pramudita

“My perspective on Burlington has changed after hearing the input and stories told by the community partners. My perspective on Burlington’s past, and how Burlington is handling societal issues in the present, have changed. Going into the future I’m now going to be more aware of the present problems with insufficient housing. I’m also walking away with a better understanding of equity, equality, and belonging, and what they mean in our community.”—BCL student Glenna

Students walked Burlington’s waterfront parks with head ranger Neil Preston. Said student Jacques: “From these walks my perspective has changed for the better. I am realizing I need to be more involved with my community.”

“We believe BCL isn’t just beneficial for our students, but it’s beneficial for the city as well,” says Christie. “In a few weeks, we’re meeting with the group that is working on re-developing Memorial Auditorium. We’re also consulting with developers on the future of Pomeroy Park. Through these conversations, sitting at the table with decision makers, students get a say in their city. And these talks could also inspire them to see future career paths.”

Students are now beginning the first of three “inquiry projects,” investigating topics of their choosing in Burlington. “One student is studying Abenaki stories. One is looking at basketball courts in Burlington—the impact and role of courts in neighborhoods, who chooses where they go,” says Christie. “Within each inquiry project, students have to interview someone, and they have to go out and have an experience related to their topic that helps them better understand it. It empowers them to investigate and branch out.” The semester will culminate in a community theater piece created with guidance from local playwright Gina Stevensen.

While Christie is new to BCL, she says there are elements that are familiar from her time teaching in other contexts. “Experiential learning, or learning hands-on, have always been a thread through my teaching because I know that’s where the realest, most relevant learning happens,” she says.

You can continue to follow along with the BCL experience this semester on their blog.

Andrea Estey

Education Impact

Place-Based Education

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Burlington City and Lake Semester: On Sustainability

Get a glimpse into how Burlington City and Lake Semester engages with sustainability in some of the many meanings of the word.

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Place-Based Education

Rethinking Equity in the Outdoors

We need to feel we belong in the places we live if we are to begin to heal them. Here's a personal exploration of how we might collectively imagine spaces where everyone belongs.

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October 7, 2024

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Montpelier's Soulful Soup: Uniting the School Community Through Food

Sarah — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 15:32:27 +0000

Montpelier's Soulful Soup: Uniting the School Community Through Food Sarah Thu, 06/20/2024 - 11:32

“Wow, it really does look like Hogwarts,” a student remarks, impressed, walking into the school gymnasium. Set end-to-end, four long stretches of tables span the room, one for each grade (“Harry Potter style”). The bleachers and mats are strung with twinkling lights, pushed aside for the schoolwide lunch. It’s March 2024, and Montpelier High School’s first-ever Solon Soup for the Soul is just kicking off with 400 students and staff sitting down to share a meal together.

Educator Sam Bromley serves soup to students during the inaugural Solon Soup for the Soul lunch. Photo by Sarah Webb.

“We have events like this in the fall and spring, and we were thinking how we should have one in the winter, too,” explains senior Meg Voisin. She and fellow senior Anika Turcotte are the creators of the event, named for the school’s mascot, the Athenian philosopher, Solon. The duo organized with teachers, the school nutrition team, and administrators to give their peers time to connect with one another following the isolating years of the pandemic.

“Only half of the school would come in the morning, and the other half came in the afternoon,” Meg remembers back to those days. “So we were coming in as freshmen, and there's like these big scary seniors, and you can't see if they're smiling at you because we've all got masks on, and there are temperature guns as you walk through the school… It was really isolating.”

As restrictions eased, the school created a spring event, Pizza for the People. Students gathered in between class sessions to eat freshly baked pizza from the outdoor oven, play lawn games, and have a moment of normalcy. “The event was designed to combat that isolation,” shares Meg, “and that’s what we want for Solon Soup for the Soul, too.”

But the road to Solon Soup took a team, and time. Last summer, three teachers — Brigitte Savard, Matt McLane, and Sam Bromley — formed a team with Meg and Anika and were accepted into the Northeast Farm to School Institute, a year-long program supporting schools across the region in deepening connections among the classroom, cafeteria, and local agricultural community.

Andy Duback

A portion of the Montpelier Northeast Farm to School Institute team at the Shelburne Farms Coach Barn develops their action plan for further embedding food systems education into their curriculum.
Andy Duback

Youth team members Meg Voisin (left) and Anika Turcotte (right) dream up the Solon Soup for the Soul event during the Northeast Farm to School Institute at Shelburne Farms.

The Montpelier team went into the kick-off retreat with some significant assets. Pizza for the People, and the school’s longstanding Fall Harvest Celebration were already highlighting how Montpelier’s sense of community is synonymous with a shared meal. Out behind their school, a greenhouse, gardens, apiaries, and a flock of chickens were helping students connect good food to its source.

“We just really needed that dedicated team time to dive into this work,” shares science teacher Sam Bromley. “I feel like in the school setting, it's really hard to bring stakeholders together and have the time and space to get in the mindset to think creatively.”

Students and teachers shared in the planning. “I can't imagine not having students as part of the team,” Sam adds. “If we can get students involved right away, they can build excitement. Their voice builds teacher buy-in and longevity.”

It was during the Institute’s opening retreat at Shelburne Farms Coach Barn that Meg and Anika envisioned Solon Soup for the Soul. “It was a time and space for our team of teachers and students to all be together, completely focused on this one thing,” recalls Anika. “I remember sitting in the back of that nice, big barn… just being surrounded by all these people who are really excited about bringing good food into our schools. It helped focus us. That barn is a good place for ideas.”

“We just started brainstorming,” explains Meg. “What do we want for ourselves? For our peers? And we were just thinking ‘really cozy, rustic bread, comfort.’ Right then and there we created the title of it: Solon Soup for the Soul.”

The team returned to school with an idea, ready to bring it to life, and held regular planning meetings throughout the fall semester. “We faced some logistical challenges,” remembers Brigitte. “We couldn’t use the gym during the basketball season, our school's folding tables were destroyed in a recent flood, and the school calendar was already jam-packed.” But the team had help. “Having the support of the administration was key to this event's success,” says Brigitte. “ They helped us navigate the hurdles we faced.”

Students supported the event by processing the majority of the menu's ingredients during class time. Photo by Sarah Webb.

Then, they needed to figure out how to make over 400 servings of soup. The team pulled in student-power from classes that already used the school’s teaching kitchen, like Sam’s Cooked class, a popular offering with hands-on culinary and food systems learning. “It’s a space where we get to cook foods we normally couldn't at home,” explains Cooked student Lara. “We get to learn new skills and cook for special events and guests. It’s just nice to work together.”

Brigitte’s French and Crêpe classes were also tasked to help. The Crêpe class supports a student-run crêpe kiosk at the local farmers’ market. “Students work on all aspects of the business,” shares Brigitte, “from cooking, menu development, branding, and marketing, to serving and taking orders at the market.” The sales support a travel scholarship fund available school-wide.

Leading up to the lunch, these classes prepped the ingredients: 50 pounds of carrots, 30 pounds of onions, 80 pounds of potatoes, and 40 gallons of stock to name a few. The cooking was finished in the cafeteria kitchen.

Food Services Director Jim Birmingham pulls the meal together and works with the team to serve the entire school community in the gymnasium. Photo by Sarah Webb.

“We are very fortunate to have a very supportive Food Services Director and Kitchen Manager,” explains Sam. “They’re partners in this work. They’re excited to support more whole-school events and get students involved, but they don’t always have the people power.”

Vermont school nutrition departments budget for, plan, cook, and serve over 17 million meals annually, with an abundance of regulations applied to every single one, including special events like Solon Soup for the Soul.

“The students came up with this idea, and my role is to help them figure out how to make their idea be compliant [with USDA standards],” explains Food Services Director Jim Birmingham. “My role really was doing the math, understanding the regulations, knowing what needed to be served, and working from there.”

The team figured out how to create a simple menu that could feed the entire school in an hour, while meeting requirements and purchasing as much local food as possible. The solution was all about collaboration. “We cook the Misty Knoll chickens and the students pick them,” explains Jim. “We buy the carrots, and they cut them. It's nice to work with Sam, who can work with the students, prioritize, and help us figure out how to make it all work.

Educator Brigitte Savard serves up chicken soup as the entire school gathers for a meal together. Photo by Sarah Webb.

And they made it all work. On March 20, Montpelier High School students and faculty sat down in the gymnasium. A custom Solon Soup for the Soul playlist was just audible above the conversation. The planning team, pushing carts brimming with pots of soup, wound their way through the aisles, ladling out chicken noodle and vegan minestrone to all. The event also served as a food drive, collecting nonperishables for a nearby food shelf. Extra soup was packaged and donated, too.

“You know, we typically don't eat together all at once. So it was really nice to have an extended amount of time where students could sit down and eat together,” says Sam. “It was a chance to really have some intentionality behind eating and bringing the community together.”

“These events really are a core Montpelier thing,” Anika adds. “I'm so grateful to be a part of a school community that values spending time, all together, serving local food. These events will definitely be what I'll look back on in ten years and remember.”

The Solon Soup for the Soul team. Left to right: Sam Bromley, Anika Turcotte, Meg Voisin, Brigitte Savard, Matt McLane. Phot courtesy Montpelier High School.

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Honoring Identity in the Classroom: Students Embrace Their Food Story

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Adapting the Model: Connecticut’s Statewide Farm to School Institute

As part of the 2023–24 Farm to School Institute Adaptation cohort, Connecticut reflects on their experience launching their first statewide Institute.

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Honoring Identity in the Classroom: Students Embrace Their Food Story

Sarah — Mon, 16 Oct 2023 19:54:55 +0000

Honoring Identity in the Classroom: Students Embrace Their Food Story Sarah Mon, 10/16/2023 - 15:54

As a partner of the Northeast Farm to School Collaborative, we took part in a regional effort to look at the popular Harvest of the Month educator resources and ask, “How can we adapt our materials to be more representative of our communities?” First, we looked for the people that have already made successful adaptations. Watch Champlain Elementary Educator Aziza Malik’s story of a classroom project centered on affirming everyone’s food stories. Learn more about the Collaborative’s project.

Video by Sarah Webb

Food—growing it, cooking it, and sharing it—can be a powerful connecting force within schools. “We can do lots of different projects around food systems,” shares Champlain Elementary School (Burlington, VT) fifth grade teacher Aziza Malik. “We can do science experiments through it, we can learn about fractions through cooking, we can write poetry about what we're eating, or more technically, recipes. It's pretty hard to find something that can do all that.”

But whose food is represented in this learning? Whose food is excluded?

A Cup of Chai & A Magical Moment

Champlain Elementary holds an annual Olympics, when each classroom represents a country and participates in school-wide events. One year, Aziza’s classroom just so happened to be assigned to India, her father’s home country. “So we started doing all these Indian cooking activities,” Aziza explains, “And, of course, my family’s number one activity is drinking chai.”

Aziza brought in her family’s chai recipe and all the ingredients to make a big batch for the classroom. She poured warm, sweet mugfuls of tea and passed them out to students. A squeal of joy erupted, This is my tea! Aziza discovered one of her students, a New American from Africa, also drank chai with his family.

“The next day he came in with his little bags of black Lipton tea, and asked, Can we make it again?” Aziza laughs. “And it was just the sweetest, most wonderful thing. There was just that connection and feeling of home. That representation is just everything. I want to create more moments like that, where we're creating those connections.”

As Aziza continued to weave food systems into her curriculum, she found the farm to school resources available were often missing a crucial element: the student experience, and the many complicated ways we all connect to the food that nourishes us.

Sarah Webb

The students gather for a group photo with Ferene Paris Meyer.
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Aziza and her students make chai in the classroom.
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Aziza and students harvest peppermint from the school garden.

What’s Your Food Story?

It’s important for students to learn about healthy, local foods, and so is discovering their authentic food experiences and traditions — regardless of the ingredient list. Aziza collaborated with Ferene Paris Meyer, a local storyteller and educator, to bring the tools of creating authentic personal narratives into the food systems learning happening in her classroom.

“Ferene started getting the students thinking about all these different ways that food is in our lives,” Aziza remembers. The storytelling workshops culminated in a student storytelling circle, where they presented their stories to one another, family, and friends. “And there was no judgment about the food whatsoever,” Aziza shares. “They could talk about anything at all. It could be about mac and cheese—a lot of people talked about candy—and just the stories that came out were really incredible. Real, deep emotional stories.”

Everyone eats, and food, like storytelling, connects us all. It’s these shared experiences that make for lasting, meaningful learning for students and adults alike. “[Ferene] taught us how to combine food stories with our identity,” a student shared as he began the storytelling circle. “She taught us about why storytelling is important. It encourages you to slow down and be in the moment. Live with purpose and live out loud. Take ownership of your own narrative. And it reminds grown ups that kids have important things to say, too. Most importantly, she taught us we all have stories worthy of telling. So what’s yours?”

Listen to Some of Aziza's Students:

Aziza Malik is a fourth grade teacher at Champlain Elementary School in Burlington, Vermont and the 2023 Vermont Teacher of the Year. She is a graduate of the Leadership for Sustainability program at UVM where her work examined the connection of Burlington School District to the local Indigenous population, the Abenaki. She is also an alumna of Shelburne Farms’ Education for Sustainability Leadership Academy and continues to work to create policies, practices, and curriculum that are more inclusive of Burlington’s diverse community.

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What is Farm to School? Green Teacher Podcast Digs In

All over the country, schools are transforming food systems education. Our professional learning team is featured on the podcast Talking with Green Teachers to discuss farm to school's impact.

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Creating Meaningful Connections With School Clubs, Even During Online Learning

admin — Mon, 26 Oct 2020 14:21:14 +0000

Creating Meaningful Connections With School Clubs, Even During Online Learning admin Mon, 10/26/2020 - 10:21

This guest post is by Sari Beth Rosenberg, Shelburne Farms Fellow and history teacher at the High School for Environmental Studies in New York City.

Feminist Eagles Club, October 2019

The Feminist Eagles Club Logo

One of my favorite parts about teaching is what happens after the bell rings: conversations with students that spill out into the hallway and meaningful discussions at the weekly meetings of our club, the Feminist Eagles. It is these connections and those student voices that I missed the most when school went fully remote back in March. In this pandemic, keeping those connections and voices alive for students is more important than ever. But it’s a big challenge.

Clubs have always been a critical venue for students to build confidence, form peer relationships, find their individual and collective voices, and feel empowered by taking actions. These learning goals are front and center when we talk about education for sustainability, too. And of course, many clubs explore themes of sustainability, either directly or indirectly. The Feminist Eagles Club, for example, implicitly addresses one of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals: Gender Equality.

So how can clubs foster student voice, and how do we maintain their vibrancy for students through this pandemic?

I have been teaching for eighteen years at the High School for Environmental Studies in New York City. When we went fully remote in March, I, along with several colleagues who also lead clubs at my school, attempted to keep the momentum going online. Dedicated to creating the best possible online club experience for students, this fall I also spoke with two other educators, Andrew Margon (teacher facilitator of the Green Team) and Hector Gerardo (co-founder of 1Freedom For All) about their experiences and plans for organizing their clubs during remote learning.

Feminist Eagles

The Feminist Eagles was founded in 2015 by a small group of students, Mr. Alex Marx, and me. Since then, our feminist club has become a weekly safe space for students. We discuss all topics and issues related to intersectional feminism and social justice. What makes the club special is that it is student-led, except for an occasional guest.

"Being a part of feminist club for me has been a form of empowerment. You learn not only about yourself but also find a safe space in which you can grow and become stronger alongside other girls like yourself. Ultimately, feminist club is a sisterhood. Together we are not only stronger, but we are also empowered to speak up for ourselves, our values, each other, and for others!"

- Yosely Jimenez (1 of the 4 new leaders of the Feminist Eagles)

When the global pandemic shut down school, students were overwhelmed adjusting to remote learning, so I gave them time to acclimate before pushing for a club meeting. I continued to communicate via Google Classroom and an Instagram account that I’d been maintaining for the club since its early days. Still, it was difficult to get club students organized to actually meet on Zoom.

But when we finally met for a couple of Fridays, it was so valuable. Some students had been feeling alienated and disconnected from their peers due to remote learning. And in addition to the global pandemic, the streets had exploded in protest in response to the police murder of George Floyd. During these two meetings, there was no structure imposed or planned topic. Students just used the time to talk about the protests and their anxieties and stresses related to quarantine, Covid-19 and remote learning.

This fall, I turned the club’s reins back to the students. Here are the five seniors who are leading the “Feminist Eagles, the remote edition” this year. They’ve been great! Together with our school’s Student Council, the Feminist Eagles have been informally meeting for weeks with the founders of Prom at the Polls. This nonpartisan, grassroots organization is encouraging young people to vote by having students dress up in their prom outfits (the ones they didn’t get to wear last spring!), and make a video “prom-polls-al” asking someone to vote with them. Connecting with an established organization on such a timely topic has been a great strategy to galvanize our club remotely.

The Green Team

Andrew Margon, another Shelburne Farms Fellow/alum, is the teacher facilitator of the Green Team club, which supports students in identifying sustainability-related problems that they are passionate about, and developing projects to address them. Students cook together, build community, and have fun!

In years past, they would, as Margon explained to me, “go back and forth between cooking and eating together, and working on school projects such as making a video or planning events to encourage the school community to compost and sort waste more consistently.” For example, one week they were eating and making a student's mom's tamale recipes and the following week, planning for a takeover of the cafeteria to promote a composting competition.

In November 2019, the Feminist Eagles, Green Team, and Green Thumb (part of the New York City Parks Department and the largest community gardening program in the nation) had a joint meeting. It was a community conscious-raising experience about the colonialist roots of so many of our American traditions while preparing and then enjoying indigenous dishes. We also held space so that everyone could all share their own family traditions during the holidays.

When school went remote, the Green Team also struggled with the transition, and had less of an online presence than the Feminist Eagles (which he’s hoping to change this academic year). Still, his advice for setting up clubs--online or not--is to provide the meeting schedule ahead of time, stick to it, and make it fun. He also suggests asking students what they want to accomplish in the club and spending your energy as an educator helping them bring their goals to life.

Margon linked up with 1Freedom, an organization that works with youth in New York City public schools to bring food justice and racial equity to their school communities and neighborhoods. Co-founded by Hector Gerardo and Elizabeth Guerra, 1Freedom formed a student club in partnership with HSES, and club activists created a "Student Bill of Rights,” demanding “access to quality, nutritious, locally-sourced/prepared school meals, clean (free) water; a seat at the table where decisions that impact the student body are being made; a rooftop greenhouse as a mechanism that can be used to incorporate restorative justice practices at their school; and students learning how to grow their own food in an urban area.”

When school went online, it did not stop 1Freedom. This summer they offered a 4-week youth leadership program, the Summer Youth Brigade, for high school-aged activists committed to creating healthy and safe environments. Margon steered some of the Green Team students to the Brigade, and supported 1Freedom’s fundraising campaign to hire young people to lead mutual aid initiatives in their respective neighborhoods while also learning leadership development. This included setting up — and stocking up — community refrigerators in under-resourced neighborhoods in New York City.

15 youth organizers with 1Freedom provided free groceries to communities in Uptown Manhattan and the Bronx via âSolidarity Fridgesâ this summer.

Clubs are an integral part of any school environment. As students are more alienated from their respective peers and communities due to the Covid-19 crisis, it is crucial to find new ways for young people to connect. Students, school staff, and teachers are hard at work thinking of creative (and safe) ways to reimagine clubs during remote or hybrid learning so that students can continue to find their voice and shape their world.

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Strengthening Farm to School with Community Partnerships & Youth Voice

admin — Mon, 05 Oct 2020 18:30:17 +0000

Strengthening Farm to School with Community Partnerships & Youth Voice admin Mon, 10/05/2020 - 14:30

This year, the High School for Environmental Studies (HSES) and social justice organization 1Freedom in New York City make up one of fourteen teams selected for our Northeast Farm to School Institute. Its team members represent essential Farm to School roles including school nutrition staff, administrators, classroom educators, and community organizers. The diversity of roles within this particular team highlights how partnerships that extend beyond the school hold enormous potential for elevating and engaging students as partners in real world Farm to School projects.

HSES students cooking. Photo sourced from New York Times, December 2019.

Community partnerships benefit everyone in the system, and HSES and 1Freedom have an established collaborative food justice afterschool program that they are looking to expand upon through the Institute. Andrew Margon, teacher at HSES, explained how advantageous it was to partner with 1Freedom and bring Directors Hector Gerado and Liz Guerra into the team. “They have 15 years of focused organizing experience, and they brought that to our team of administrators and teachers, who have a lot of competing interests because of the nature of the school environment. We still have a lot to do in our Farm to School team... but just in the values statement process alone (see “Action Planning” chapter of Connecting Classrooms, Cafeterias, Communities: A Guide to Building Integrated Farm to School Programs), there was a moment when Hector and Liz dropped the Black Panther 10-Point Plan into the chat as we were honing in on our statement. It catapulted our focus.”

“The Institute helped us to kind of reposition ourselves and refocus our lens,” Liz explained. “The Action Planning Process helped us think about how we're going to approach [a new summer] program.” That program is a three- to four-week summer youth brigade that is engaging young people throughout New York City to create mutual aid programs in their immediate neighborhoods. Students from the HSES and other high schools are working with 1Freedom to set up “Solidarity Fridges” stocked with free food for the taking in their neighborhoods to address food insecurity and food apartheid. These paid positions are part of 1Freedom’s work to integrate food systems education and activism in a real-world setting.

Programs like this aren’t built overnight, but are framed around relationships, community partnerships, and youth and community voice and agency. So what really matters when it comes to youth voice and Farm to School? We spoke with Andrew, Liz, and Hector to listen and learn together about how they're working to amplify youth voice. Here are the key takeaways:

HSES students gardening. Photo sourced from New York Times, December 2019.

Trust Youth as Experts

The trio talked about the importance of building trust and respecting youth as experts - experts in their own experience, in their communities, and in their unique perspectives. They speak to how allowing youth to show up as experts can be the start of a trusting relationship, but they also acknowledge that it isn’t always easy as a teacher to give students the reins.

“We want to help create that expectation for young people, that they are, in fact, experts in their neighborhoods,” Liz shares regarding the summer youth brigade and the paid positions for high school students. “Explaining to students upfront that they're experts starts that conversation around trust. It's really important that we value them. It's more than just saying, ‘Here's your certificate, congrats you've completed the program.’ It’s, ‘You're going to get paid the next three weeks to do this work.’” Liz shared that some people question paying the students, suggesting that it isn’t necessary or money well-spent. Liz disagrees, saying the paychecks help the entire family. “A number of our young people are our rising seniors, and applications for college are costly.”

Andrew’s food systems class embeds student voice throughout the curriculum. “The culminating project asks students to identify a community need, and then build a project to address that need. We go about it through a democratic decision making process.” Andrew says. “As the teacher, I'm often in this position where I'm promising my students that what they decide is what I'll support and help make happen. It's a kind of terrifying experience from the teacher's perspective at times! I might have my own opinions about what seems a little more feasible, and I'm trying to help scaffold [their ideas] to help us get to something that we can actually accomplish. But I also want to honor the agreement that I'm making with the students. The past few years, the students have built community action events that seek to both raise awareness of and address food waste and food insecurity. They're in the driver's seat: building or developing relationships with local nonprofits, community farms, soup kitchens... They're the ones cooking food on the day of, making the flyers for the event, designing the t-shirts that we wear. It’s the most successful that I've been in a classroom setting with this experiment of trying to give students as much power as possible. It's been really rewarding both for me and for the students, based on their feedback. But it's really hard.”

How does a teacher engage in democratic decision-making, giving students the power to be in the driver’s seat? Andrew laughs and says, “It's messy to just give people space to brainstorm and try stuff. It’s about being okay with, ‘What would my administrator think if they walked into class when we were brainstorming ideas, and it's just crazy loud, and kids have their phones out?!’ Embrace the mess and the mistakes, it's all part of the learning process!

1Freedom's youth brigade and solidarity fridges.

Build Relationships

Research indicates that building and sustaining relationships is key to student engagement. As adults, team members are engaging in their own relationship-building as part of the Institute; The experiences of Andrew, Hector, and Liz bear this out.

COVID-19 restrictions, physical distancing, and virtual learning have all put a strain on schools, causing many students and staff to be more isolated than ever. But because of the strong relationships already forged by HSES educators and 1Freedom, Andrew noted that students continued to participate in their collaborative after school program at HSES. “As far as I know,” Andrew said, “when the pandemic was at its height in New York City and teachers were burnt out and freaking out, I think 1Freedom Club might've been the only club in the school that was still functioning remotely, still having your regular meetings, and students were showing up. That's just a testament to the community that Hector and Liz have been cultivating.”

The team’s collective approach is to engage youth as full partners, even thinking about nurturing the next generation of leadership for their school, organization, and community. How can schools assess where they are, embrace these ideas, and make a plan to deepen authentic youth-adult partnerships? Check out this “Seed to Tree” tool and “Roadmap to Agency” rubric from UP for Learning that shows different stages of partnership. You’ll note that HSES, 1Freedom, and the students are working in the stage of full partnership — a fully fruiting tree!

Food Systems & Food Justice Can Be a Lens for Examining EVERYTHING

“Perhaps ironically, the types of meaningful learning experiences described here return us to a much simpler time, when learning was more connected to daily life and where young people learned in the company of their elders as well as each other.”

-Milton Chen from the forward of Powerful Learning, 2015

The quote by Milton Chen reminds us that because food systems and food justice are part of our everyday experiences, they are powerful topics for making learning relevant and engaging for students. Andrew talks about his food systems class, and let us in on his recipe for success. “This is a food systems class, and so we're looking at a lot of different social problems, but it's through the lens of food mostly. That's the opportunity for new content. The students have expertise from just existing and living in all of these areas, but maybe they haven't all had the experience of interpreting them through the lens of food. And so I would say that that's the context that I'm trying to offer them in the class, but mixing that with what they already know creates a more fruitful discussion about what's important to us as a class community.”

Make Food Education Culturally Sustaining and Relevant to Students

Hector reminds us that as educators, sometimes our cultures, perspectives, and experiences aren’t that of our students and so we add the idea of making food systems education culturally sustaining and relevant to our students.

“One of the things we do is ask the students about the food their parents, grandparents, or whoever is the cook in their home makes, and how that connects to them. How does food connect to their ancestry? Because a lot of today’s delicacies were once slave foods. It's not just about who's eating good and who's not eating good. How can we create our own sustainable systems of food?” The question that Hector leaves us with is the power and opportunity in Farm to School.

*The Northeast Farm to School Institute is a unique, whole school professional development program developed by Vermont FEED, a partnership project of Shelburne Farms and NOFA-VT. Since 2010, the Institute has helped over 100 schools and districts build enduring Farm to School programs that create a culture of wellness, improve food access, engage students and farmers, and strengthen local food systems.

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We Rise - A Book Review

admin — Wed, 13 Dec 2017 18:44:18 +0000

We Rise - A Book Review admin Wed, 12/13/2017 - 13:44

On September 21st, 2017, International Peace Day, over 150 students and 25 educators gathered on the shores of Lake Champlain in Vermont to kick off a year of learning for sustainability. Using the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals as the framework, students explored opportunities to connect their learning, their communities, and action. As the gathering began, students listened to the words of a peer, Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, in a recorded presentation from the 2014 Bioneers Conference. In the video, he called for us to take action and get engaged. In his book, We Rise, he asks us to do the same.

Xiuhtezcatl Martinez is a 17-year-old who leads the organization Earth Guardians and uses his voice through song and lyrical speech to inspire others in the climate movement and to connect social and environmental justice issues. A deep connection to his ancestral heritage and his home place is the foundation for a narrative that draws you in. He uses the art of storytelling to weave a narrative that informs you about the latest in critical global issues AND makes you want to get up and take action. Martinez offers, "Telling a story has always been one of the most powerful tools to wake people up," (pg. 86) and he has done just that as evidenced by the current federal lawsuit he and fellow young people have brought against the Trump administration for failure to protect their right to clean air, water and a future.

At a time in human history where we communicate in 140 characters, storytelling is becoming a lost (and hopefully found) art. Martinez uses stories, interviews, and personal memories to navigate complex issues such as food justice and fracking. In Part I: Roots of Revolution, he talks about his personal story and in my estimation details how it is possible for a 17-year-old to be so inspiring!

Each chapter in Part II: The Movements and Our Opportunity to Turn the Tide can stand alone as a primer on a significant issue. For example, in Chapter 8: Future Food, he makes a personal connection to the reader and helps us see the connection between food systems and our everyday lives. He makes the issue accessible without taking away from the seriousness of what we are up against. As in other chapters he shares his story – ancestral and family values – that helped him see the importance of the issue. In Future Food, he talks about how his parents taught him about "maintaining a strong connection to our food culture," (pg. 103) and relates an experience he had in Peru working alongside indigenous people to develop a food system infrastructure in line with their culture and environment. And he acknowledges that he isn’t perfect, how he is learning and making changes to his diet to bring his actions in line with his understanding of the issues. He uses the example of the dairy industry and its contribution to climate change from methane. Knowing how methane from cows contributes to the climate crisis, he questioned his use of dairy in his diet (Martinez is a vegetarian) and has changed to consuming goat-based dairy products from local farms. Again, his story and self-effacing approach connects and invites us to join him. He is brilliant at "calling in," inviting us to join him in the revolution. As part of his invitation he shares knowledge and why food matters in the big picture of climate change and equity. Don’t worry, he doesn’t leave you hanging. He offers stories of agency and action. In Future Food, he shares the story of DJ Cavem and Chris Castro, solutionaries in the food justice movement, as well as ways to join the movement, whether it’s connecting inner city youth to the food they eat or turning lawns into gardens.

Throughout the book, Martinez uses interviews to deepen our understanding of issues. In an interview with Vandana Shiva he talks with her about GMOs and social movements. At the end of the interview he asks Shiva if she has hope and she responds, "You give me hope for the future. Intelligent, bright minds like yours can be hope for adults in a world where we live among many adults that don’t quite…aren’t quite there yet" (pg. 113).

Interviews with luminaries such as Van Jones, Paul Watson of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, poet Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, and Dallas Goldtooth of the Indigenous Environmental Network support each chapter in Part II. The casual interview style Martinez brings creates the feeling you are sitting in a living room or around a campfire with them as they unravel a storyline that couldn’t have happened in any other way. The interviewees are a mix of well-known activists and emerging leaders who share their perspective on the current state of affairs. Notably, almost all the interviewees call on their sense of hope for the future as a catalyst for their ongoing work.

In Part III: The Game Plan, Martinez shares strategies for moving the work forward. Like an activist’s workbook, he lays out ideas for us to move from personal connection to action (local and global). He suggests stories as a way to create change. In a section called We use Our Stories to Affect Change he offers, "Our stories are what connects us, shifts perspectives, and builds understanding" (pg. 218). Let’s use this call to action with our students and connect to stories. Using Martinez’s stories and Marshall Ganz’s model (referenced in the last chapter), here are a few ideas for how to use this book with your students and build on their stories to create change in our schools and communities.

Using this book with your students:

Students’ Stories (or Story of Self): Have students develop their own narratives about what is important to them. Using the questions on page 226 as prompts, students can journal, dialogue, and use multi-media methods to begin to tell and document their stories. (Hint: educators should join their students in this activity too!) Use the narratives woven throughout the book as inspiration for what young people are doing around the world to tackle climate change and injustice.
Community Stories (or Story of Us): Engage in some community inquiry and listen to the stories of the neighborhoods where students live and learn. Make connections with community partners through guest presentations in the classroom or visits for your students to learn about what issues are important to them and the community. See page 227 for prompts. The interviews in the book are great examples of short student interviews that could be done with community partners, families, or other students. Use the interviews as fodder for starting your own community interview series.
Future Stories (or Story of Now): Ganz suggests establishing urgency and getting people connected to the issue. Work with students and community partners to tell the hopeful, visionary story of where you want to be on a particular issue, and then work toward that vision together. Use the suggestions in Part II to consider the types of action that resonate with you and your students. Martinez offers loads of great ideas, resources, and organizations to connect with for each issue.

Martinez closes with a sentiment that I shared with the students that joined together in late September: "There are more people who want a just transition than there are people who want to keep going with the same extractive economy that has been killing our planet. If we can use our differences to bring us together, rather than allowing them to divide us, we amplify our power. It’s going to take hard work to get there, and it will take all of us. Whether you’re a student, a teacher, or a fossil fuel industry worker, everyone has a role to play." I’m in! Are you?

This article was originally published in the December 2017 Green Schools Catalyst Quarterly. The Green Schools National Network, a 501c3 non-profit organization founded in 2008, works with educators, government and non-governmental organizations and agencies, as well as private partners to create broad-based initiatives and successful strategies aimed at fostering healthy, sustainable K-12 schools across the United States. Founded by principals, superintendents, and teachers, GSNN is devoted to accelerating student achievement through the implementation of green, healthy and sustainable practices as outlined in our GreenPrint® for Green, Healthy, and Sustainable Schools.

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Hi Jen,
Great review. I observe the Coming of Age in each new Undergraduate Class at The University of Vermont occuring more rapidly in worldliness, knowledge, and wisdom than their predecessor. Careers focused on social responsibility, sustainability, and fairness are replacing ambitions centered around self-aggrandizement (personal security and welfare). I have great hope and faith in the youth of today and the future.
I will look for this young man's wonderful Book. Much wisdom can come from the Young.
Sincerely,
Jacques

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