by LaTionna Russell, Pittsburgh Obama 6-12

During the One Young World Summit community break out groups on October 20, I conducted a report on the Environmental Charter School. During the time of my report, a lot of the delegates shared why they felt going to this event would help them. Most of the delegates who attended were from Pittsburgh. Many of the delegates wanted to learn about the effects of unhealthy food on a person. Others wanted to learn about the expense of food, as well as about advocating to young students in schools.

The gardening program presented at the break out session is located in six public schools. “It is harder to run this program in public schools due to the rules, policies, and regulations involved,” the founder stated. The garden contains six gardening beds for rotating, but due to the weather and timing of season, everything is now being put to bed. The gardening  program is not for just fun and games; they teach the kids how to take care of the crops as well as contributing to different classes such as science and math. They would like to expand to new schools around Pittsburgh but they primarily work with elementary school students.

After the tour of their garden, they served us delicious healthy food that is also served in their kitchens at the school. They served chicken tacos, very sweet and ripe fruit, with a side of corn and pasta. If I had this in my school, I would love to eat school lunches!  In my opinion this would highly benefit the school district as well as children in the schools, helping them to eat healthier and also decreasing the deaths in America due to diseases caused by an unhealthy diet.