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Our Education Outreach
The Experimental Station has built a dynamic and expanding food education program in an ongoing effort to alter the purchasing behavior and food consumption patterns of Woodlawn’s low-income children, youth, and adults. We believe ‘food access’ is a multidimensional problem that takes long-term investment to solve and as a result we have identified three goals to carry out through food education programming at the Experimental Station:
1: At-Market
To offer weekly at-Market educational programming through our Market School activities.
Since 2008, there have been approximately 182 Market School days. Each week at the Market School tent, individuals, groups and organizations volunteer to engage market customers in conversations about topics like nutrition, sustainability, buying locally, gardening, and living more healthfully.
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2: In-School
To build upon our in-school food education program by introducing a three-year food education structure into the curriculum of the Andrew Carnegie Elementary School.
Based on a model developed in 2013, we instituted a 3-level program for 2nd through 4th graders at Carnegie Elementary (where 85% of students are low-income and time and resources to develop experience-based learning opportunities are low).
Level 1: Students learn the benefits of consuming fruits and vegetables, how the fruits and vegetables are grown sustainably, which fruits and vegetables are grown locally, what they taste like, when they are grown, and how to grow them. In 2014 we led a 4-Week in-school Healthy Eating Course to
170 2nd and 3rd graders.
Level 2: Students learn to garden and produce a food crop through planting and growing at a nearby hoop house and outdoor raised beds at Jackson Park Terrace apartments. In Spring 2014 we led a 7-Week in-school Gardening Course for
60 2nd graders. For Fall 2014, another
180 4th graders participated in a 4-week gardening class during fall term before the garden was closed for the season. Since 2013, a total of
330 students were able to learn these gardening skills during in-school class time.
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Additionally, since 2013 we provided single visit, 1-hour Healthy Eating workshops to over
360 students at area schools.
3: After-School
To build parent interest and involvement in supporting healthier diets for their children:
Level 3: Students in the 4th grade were offered youth cooking classes after school. The cooking classes consisted of 4 series of three class sessions, for up to 13 students per class (2 classes in the fall and 2 in the spring). The classes were free of charge and the focus was on the many healthy foods grown locally, with nutritional information about the produce being prepared, and a weekly recipe provided for participants.
Since 2013 we offered two Healthy Eating Workshops per year to the parents of 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade Carnegie School students themselves, including a tasting of one or two locally grown fruits and vegetables. Parents learned about the 61st Street Farmers Market and how the Market with double LINK purchases.
Through the gardening program at Jackson Park Terrace, residents learn to cultivate their own vegetables in the hoop house in addition to attending these Healthy Eating Workshops and receiving a tour of the Market by the Market Manager and staff members from Improving South Side Diabetes.
In 2013 and 2014 a total of
113 Elementary students and adults participated in these Healthy Cooking Classes.
During the summer,
12 Woodlawn youths participated in an 8-week intensive gardening program where they learned pruning and trellising of vegetables, succession planting, and harvesting techniques. Harvested produce was given to youths for preparation at home.
These initiatives make up the bulk of food education programming, but there are countless other opportunities that play out every week through our work: fresh produce samplings at local Department of Human Services offices, weekly fruit or vegetable tastings and growing introductions to Blackstone Bicycle Works youths during the outdoor season, and exposure to visitors and guests for countless neighborhood events.
The impact of all these experiences is immeasurable and deeply important when we consider how to better “connect with your food”.
For more information on any of these programs, contact Kim Werst at kim@experimentalstation.org
