Louisa May Alcott, a Chicago elementary school, lets students get in on the action by helping to tend a large vegetable garden outside the school’s cafeteria. The goal is to introduce students to healthy foods and give them the opportunity to appreciate good nutrition by handing them the reigns to give them a prominent role in the process.
The students help to grow vegetables in the garden and spend time outside of the classroom, giving them useful experiences in nature. The food they grow could very well end up in the school cafeteria to be prepared for their lunches. Schools in New York and California have similar programs. More than 2,000 schools in California have vegetable gardens. Schools in Idaho secured federal grants to help them start gardening programs next year. The idea is that students will become more acquainted with healthier foods by growing them and will begin to implement some of those foods into their regular diets.
