Schools
Troy students assist local Boy Scouts of America troop
Address food insecurity, food waste within their own schools
Troy Community School District 30-C joined forces this year with Boy Scout Troop 2562 to create a fruit stand based on a collection of William B. Orenic Intermediate School food insecurity projects that inspired a local Boy Scout project to build a fruit stand for W.B.O.
W.B.O. fifth-grade Applied Literature and Technology educator Jennifer McGowan said the project involved her students collecting and donating fruit left after breakfast or lunch, cleaning the fruit, and redistributing it to the students during W.B.O. 5th grade Explore snack time.
“I have been working all year with Boy Scout Emily Poole on building a fruit stand that will house and organize the fruit donated during lunchtime,” McGowan said. “It’s so cool to see a student’s project turn into a possibly sustainable project to tackle food waste and food insecurity. I believe it will be powerful for the students to see how their curiosity and investigation of the problem led to a solution that might be able to sustain over time.”
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McGowan said one of her students, Addison Allen did a wonderful project last year on food waste, and her students Nathan Holmes and Corey Allen completed solid research on food insecurities students face or the difficulties felt in a global way.
“The donated food cannot stay on the shelf during the 7th-period snack time,” she said, “ and many other students in other class periods and classrooms around the school request food each day. I love how much they enjoy the apples and oranges.”
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Also, one of McGowan’s students, Uyen Le, did a research project on ugly fruit and learned about issues farmers face when grocery stores do not accept the fruit that does not look like it's ready for Instagram. The Ugly Food Program does not deliver to this area yet, McGowan said, but she is following up the research.
Jewel in Shorewood also donated 500 apples and oranges for the reveal of the fruit stand and donated a $100 gift card to get the program started next year
“We will continue to reach out to the community for support,” McGowan said.
