In the age of genetically modified and processed food, education about food has become increasingly scarce. Fort Hamilton’s Urban Gardening class is working to educate students about how food is grown through hands-on experience. Operating for its third year under the Instructional Support Services department, the class hopes to grow the reach of food education among high school students.
The class, taught by teachers Bopha Sun and Diana De Paula, combines food education with applied learning. During growing seasons, the class manages a garden on the 83rd street side of the school building. This year, they have partnered with the Harvard Forestry School, working on a project experimenting with leaves to study the effects of climate change.
“We learn everything from actual gardening skills to also just sustainability and understanding the importance of food advocacy, where our food comes from, and how to grow our own food, which I think is an amazing talent that most adults don’t have,” said Ms. De Paula.
Students also participate in other activities such as composting and nature journaling, where they are encouraged to observe the environment around them, allowing them to witness environmental changes firsthand.
“One of my favorite lessons that we do is a composting lesson because students actually get to bring in their scraps and get to see compost made in real time because we have a machine,” said Ms. De Paula. “They give me all their food scraps and then the next day they come, they see the dense, nutrient rich soil. And now we can use this to now grow more food.”
This class aims to have students develop knowledge of food consumption and gardening in hopes that they will take these skills outside of the classroom.
“Having an Urban Gardening class is the first step to providing opportunities to our students to learn and put their knowledge to the test and open their world to the possibility of growing their own food in the near future,” said Ms. Sun.
Students of this class, express the fun they have while learning these useful skills in a collaborative environment.
“The people here are nice and are always trying to help each other learn,” said student Santiago Macarena.
“To better understand Urban Gardening, you have to be part of the action that starts in class and continues to the garden,” Ms. Sun adds.
