COLORADO SPRINGS — The recently introduced and bipartisan Food and Nutrition Education in Schools Act hopes to create more food educator positions in public schools.
The bill has been referred to the Senate Committee on Agriculture.
While food education programs may be a new concept for many schools, there are those like Mountain Song Community School which already focus on that kind of learning. "You're not just stuck looking at a paper all day or looking at a computer, you're learning new things. You're learning how to take care of animals, plants. You're learning how to garden, you're learning how to cook," said a fifth grade student at Mountain Song Community School, Schuylia Slack.
Mountain Song Community School is a public charter school that teaches Waldorf methods. They have a garden for their students, complete with a greenhouse, chickens, and a clay oven for cooking. "Nature is a great teacher and educator... We want them to have this appreciation for where their food comes from," said Sarah Kreger, the director of school performance at Mountain Song Community School.
The agricultural arts program is taught alongside other areas of study. "It can be about social studies, it can be related to math, it can be related to science. Really any subject can be taught using food," said the Agricultural Arts Program Coordinator, Adam Wright.
"There's something really magical when you get to cook and grow food, but I also know that I'm at a very special school that supports this type of programming and they allot money in our budget for this, and a lot of schools don't have that opportunity. So it really, really excites me that our federal government is considering passing a bill to basically create positions like mine all across the country."
On Saturday, May 22, Mountain Song Community School will hold their May Faire celebration. Attendees can buy plants, spices, and herbs grown by the students, with the money raised benefiting the school.
