Maplewood Elementary School Wins Award for Excellence in Texas School Health
Maplewood Elementary has participated in Grow Local’s Spread the Harvest project for several years, and SFC is proud to share this announcement about the award they won for their Salad Bowl Project. It’s amazing what a handful of seed packets can grow into!
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A Ray of Sunshine
Maplewood Elementary School Wins Award for Excellence in Texas School Health
Maplewood Elementary School in the Austin Independent School District was presented the 2010 Award for Excellence in Texas School Health at a recognition ceremony hosted by the Texas School Health Association at their Annual Conference Awards Banquet on January 28, 2011. Honoring the school’s ‘Salad Bowl Project’, Maplewood Elementary received a $1500 prize award for their project in the Discovery Award category. Only Three Discovery Awards are presented each year to current school programs addressing the health needs of Texas school communities. The state-wide award is sponsored by the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS), School Health Program and funded by the Texas Health Institute (THI) and the Texas Pediatric Society Foundation (TPSF).
The Maplewood Salad Bowl Project was conceived in 2007 and implemented by the Maplewood school community of students, teachers, parents and grandparents. The Project combines a variety of health and wellness programs that promote the interrelationship between nutritious foods, physical activity, and artistic endeavors. At its core, it is a school community gardening effort. Principal Vickie Jacobson explains, “Using the garden as the classroom, our students learn that the food they eat doesn’t just come from grocery store, but is grown from the earth, water, sunshine, and air around them.”
Working with parents, community volunteers, and their teachers, students at Maplewood raise vegetables in the gardens outside each classroom. The students learn about the growth of their plants from seed to harvest, and enjoy Harvest Lunch salad bars held twice during the school year. Each class also works with Maplewood’s art teacher to make their own clay Salad Bowl to use at the salad bar, enhancing pride and ownership for their work in the garden.
Maplewood Parent Dusty Harshman describes the Harvest Lunches, “At our Fall Harvest Lunch, we used 19 different vegetables and herbs from the class gardens, and we prepared them in nine separate dishes for the students and staff at Maplewood. From the traditional mixed salad to baked kale chips, warm arugula greens, beets and tabouli, the kids learn that tasty, nutritious foods come in all shapes and flavors. The Salad Bowl Project is really a core program at our school and ray of sunshine for our kids. We are very appreciative of the award as it recognizes Maplewood’s whole-child approach to education.”
