Harmony Reid is in fourth grade and she loves potatoes. Right now she’s learning about other vegetables in her STEM class.
“They’re delicious, eat potatoes every day, I love potatoes, potatoes are my favorite vegetable,” she said.
Tony Deloach is in the same class. He doesn’t like that many vegetables, although he said asparagus and corn is growing on him.
Their classmates are growing lettuce, bok choy, herbs and other greens. They grow them in the Green Bronx Machine. It’s like a hydroponic tower with greens growing through openings in the middle tube of the tower.
The students are in charge of making sure the water has the right amount of nutrients, planting seeds and harvesting the leafy greens when they're ready. They also learn about food insecurity, food access, and healthy eating at school and at home.
Daniell Cossey teaches STEM at Westbrook. The tower has been in her classroom since the school received it last February. She said she’s got no shortage of lessons the kids can learn through the tower garden.
“[We ask] can we bring this back to math class? Can we find out the probability of the plants that are going to survive? Or would you like to research a chef? Would you like to research this as a profession? Did you know there's culinary school and things like that? Because we don't hear that all the time. “Cossey said.
The Green Bronx Machine is a non-profit based in the Bronx bringing urban agriculture to underserved communities across the country.
Stephen Ritz, the founder of the nonprofit and an educator himself — who was also visiting the Trotwood school on Thursday — said the program is more than just growing vegetables. It’s about exposure in a community that lacks access to healthy and affordable food.
“This was once an agricultural community, it doesn't even have a supermarket,” Ritz said. “When they grow it, they want to eat it. And if they eat it, they tend to like it. And if they don't like it, that's okay. We can find something else. It's all about expanding palettes and expanding exposure. It's really about exposure.”
He added the idea is to also get kids used to eating vegetables at a young age.
“If they're eating more fruits and vegetables as opposed to packaged food as opposed to processed food, think about what that means for their kidneys, their intestines, their diabetes rates,” he said. “When you change food in communities like ours, you change everything.”
Tabitha Harding, the principal at Westbrook, said the kids are also checking off every box when it comes to sharing, socializing and learning new things.
“They're meeting their social emotional needs. They're learning how to work together collaboratively, having two way conversations, not just being spoken to, but actually just collaborating, which is huge,” Hardin said.
The plan is to expand the program in the school. Westbrook Village Elementary will be getting two more garden towers at no cost to the school. It plans to keep teaching students about healthy foods through science, math and reading.
Alejandro Figueroa is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. Support for WYSO's reporting on food and food insecurity in the Miami Valley comes from the CareSource Foundation.
