Contact: Fred Lewis, [email protected]; (202) 412-2167
Eighty public and public charter schools across the District were recognized Monday, Nov. 21 for their efforts in engaging students in a range of activities that promote healthy behaviors and lifestyles during Growing Healthy Schools Month, an annual initiative sponsored by the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE).
During a ceremony held at Cardozo Education Campus, schools received certificates and reflected on the activities, lessons, field trips and events they offered during Growing Healthy Schools Month. Every year in October, OSSE collaborates with public schools, local community-based organizations, District government agencies, farmers, athletes, and chefs to coordinate inspiring activities related to nutrition, the environment and being active.
“Participation in Growing Healthy Schools Month continues to expand each year, with more schools involved and more students learning the benefits of a lifestyle focused on eating healthy foods, being stewards of the environment, and engaging in healthy physical activity,” said Donna Anthony, OSSE’s assistant superintendent for Health and Wellness.
“This year’s Growing Healthy Schools Month theme, ‘Healthy Schools, Every Day!’ encourages schools to leverage the same energy and excitement generated during Growing Healthy Schools Month to institutionalize healthy school initiatives throughout the school year,” Anthony added.
Participating schools were encouraged to browse OSSE’s Growing Healthy Schools Month webpage for a range of recommended activities and resources clustered around the following 12 general topics:
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Read a book from the Healthy Schools and/or Health and Physical Education Assessment booklists |
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Teach a standards-based lesson around health or the environment |
Districtwide examples of Growing Healthy Schools Month activities
At School Without Walls @ Francis-Stevens, Chef Ethan McKee from Urbana Restaurant in DuPont Circle showed second graders how to make homemade pasta and ravioli, using fresh vegetables and herbs from the school’s garden. During the demonstration, held in the school’s kitchen classroom, FoodPrints lead teacher Ibti Vincent of FreshFarm Markets explained the importance of eating locally sourced fruit and produce. At the end of the class, students got to eat what they cooked.
Students at Langley Elementary School welcomed Chef Gina Chersevani, owner of Buffalo & Bergen, into their classroom where she taught them how to make a delicious minestrone soup from scratch.
At Anne Beers Elementary School, students, teachers and community members partnered with REAL School Gardens to build a new school garden. The garden includes a gathering place for students, shade, native and edible plants, and a rain catchment system.
Farmer Avery from DC Urban Greens visited students at C.W. Harris Elementary School to talk about how she and the other farmers are growing produce at small farms in their neighborhood, including behind the Fort DuPont Ice Arena.
Students at School-Within-School @ Goding harvested produce from their school garden to use in their FoodPrints cooking classes.
At Friendship PCS-Blow Pierce Public Charter School, students, teachers and parents organized a successful work day to get their school garden ready for the fall.
Students, teachers and custodial staff at 25 DC schools in all eight wards conducted surveys of classroom recycling and trash bins in order to increase recycling "correctness" over the three week competition. Overall, participating schools increased recycling correctness by 17 percentage points through a variety of strategies such as engaging student green teams, giving out stickers to high performing classrooms, and making morning announcement reminders.
The student green team at Ballou High School, for instance, independently went to classrooms to conduct surveys, took ownership of the recycling program, and spread the word to their friends. Two students in particular took initiative and made presentations to ten classrooms about the recycling program, thus practicing their public speaking skills.
Since 2010, the DC Healthy Schools Act and efforts such as Growing Healthy Schools Month have provided learning experiences for students and their families that teach healthy and active living practices.
About Growing Healthy Schools Month
Growing Healthy Schools Month evolved from DC School Garden Week, which was launched in 2007 to celebrate school gardens throughout the District of Columbia, and DC Farm to School Week, which provided an opportunity for DC schools to celebrate local, seasonal food in school meals, and engage students in the farm-to-table process. These two celebrations were extremely successful in stimulating more citywide support for and involvement in farm-to-school and school garden programs.