Wildwood Middle staff works to connect students with fresh food, healthy habits with construction of vertical gardens | Journal-news

SHENANDOAH JUNCTION — Wildwood Middle School physical education teacher Claire Webb and Principal Jennifer Moss thought back to a pre-COVID-19 time when the school implemented efforts to connect students with fresh food and teach about healthy choices.

Pre-pandemic times, they told stories of taste tests with the students, featuring watermelon, apples, honey and jellies, and as they thought back, the pair laughed over one tasting in particular: homemade apple sauce.

“They probably think I’m this awful cook now. All the kids judged me on that applesauce,” Moss laughed, the tasting held in her first year in the position.

The pair explained that because most students hadn’t tasted homemade applesauce before, only the kind that comes from a jar or little plastic cups, the treat was met by the unhappiness of many students who expected the same sweet snack they are used to.

“They were not used to something that hadn’t been processed to death,” Webb said with a laugh. “I was trying to abscond with the extra apple sauce.”

The taste tests are part of an ongoing initiative at Wildwood, one that is picking up somewhat once again, to help introduce students to fresh food, teach about healthy choices and encourage some hands-on learning along the way.

The school was recently awarded a $1,000 grant to help with the initiative from the Shenandoah-Potomac Garden Council for the construction of four vertical gardens and supplies. Local FFA students and community members helped construct the gardens over spring break, as Kathy Lloyd and Webb, members of the WMS Farm to School team, facilitated. The goal is for the food grown in the garden to be used in the nutrition department, Moss hoping one day, the back wall of the school will be covered in gardens.

Since being built, the gardens have been filled with various types of lettuce, herbs and sweet peppers for students to enjoy. Wildwood students will soon be having a test taste using the lettuce for tacos.

“We would love to get this stuff on their plate,” she said, looking at the gardens.

Webb continued: “We want them to start thinking about more healthy ways to eat things. Most everybody loves tacos, so we’re going to do lettuce tacos. The lettuce will be the shell. Just a way to say, ‘Hey, this is fresh. It’s grown right out back,’ and ‘Let’s start thinking about ways we can eat things that we already love.’ We’ll see how it goes. We want kids to start understanding lettuce doesn’t have to be gross, peppers don’t have to be gross when they’re fresh.”

The students will also be tasting infused water using the herbs from the garden, Webb thinking lemon and spearmint will be a good direction to start.

“I love infused water, so just trying to get kids to drink more water. I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of, ‘Oh my God, there’s grass in my water.’ I can already hear it,” she laughed.

However, the excitement surrounding the slow rollout of the program once again has students as pumped as the staff, Webb recently taking her class out to see the gardens and them meeting the visit with anticipation.

“I was really surprised. They are seventh-graders, and they were pumped,” Webb said. “They had ideas. Some had already tried infused water. They were really excited. All I did was bring them back here. I thought I was going to have to lead the horse to water, but they ran with it for the whole conversation.”

Webb said the exposure to fresh food and healthy choices is key in helping guide students in the right direction, noting that parts of Wildwood’s student population come from families in need.

“There’s a lot of these kids that are not exposed to just healthier ideas,” Webb said. “For lack of a better word, some of the kids live in what we would call a ‘food desert.’ Just getting stuff in their hands that when they have the ability to start shopping for themselves or cooking for themselves — maybe they’re already doing that — I want them to say, ‘Let me try this as opposed to that.’”

Moss added that the gardens provide a source for many educational opportunities, spanning from science and math to health. She emphasized that initiatives like this provide connections for students and staff, as well as the community, making the school a better all around center.

“It gives them something else to talk to you about and make a connection about instead of, ‘Hey, let’s have a conversation about your grades,’ or, ‘Hey, what just happened in the hallway?’” she said. “There’s some other connection. That’s the best way kids learn. They are communicating with people, making connections in our building. It’s not just about the academics. They have to be well-rounded in order to be successful in what they’re doing.”

The initiative is a multifaceted program that featured many opportunities for students, families and staff alike in the beginning, before COVID put things on pause. Wildwood hosted pop-up farmers markets through a partnership with the Charles Town Farmers Market for back-to-school nights and hosted a fitness-related Halloweed event through a grant from AmeriCorps.

By being a welcoming place for families, one that is focusing on developing well-rounded students, everyone involved in the students’ education thrives.

“It was really fun. It was fun to mingle with the families in a different atmosphere, because it wasn’t so pressuring,” Moss said about the back-to-school events. “When you come to school as a parent, you’re like, ‘I want my family to look nice and represent me well. I’ve got four toddlers coming along with me and my middle school kid. What’s this teacher have to say?’ It was a different way to connect with people and make them more comfortable coming to school.”

Now, the staff is working to get back on track while still keeping everyone safe, the end of the pandemic in site but the staff not wanting to jump the gun yet.

“We were rolling along and pumped. We had the whole rest of the year planned,” Webb said. “And then, we didn’t resurrect this year, because we weren’t sure, and there were things we couldn’t do.”

Moss added: “We can almost see the end, so we don’t want to do something that ruins it.”