Urban Greening Grant Proposal ~ Logan Wilson

In class, my group member Tyler Scott proposed an excellent idea about a program called The Edible Schoolyard. At first the name caught me off guard, and I imagined the cement play ground area I had in elementary school and I instantly jumped on board. When it was time for Recess I rarely had enjoyable memories, with not many playgrounds or activities around me my recess time was we students could make of it. So not only does this project hit home for me, but I know the impact it can have not only on the education in American schools but the future of America as well.

New York City has always been one of my favorite cities in America and I love watching, hearing and learning about how it is changing into a more sustainable environment. As I researched more about The Edible Schoolyard I found  New York City School P.S. 216 and their Edible School Yard Program. The Edible Schoolyard New York at Brooklyn’s P.S. 216 is an official affiliate of the Edible Schoolyard (ESY) program started by Alice Waters at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School in Berkeley, California in 1995. The Edible Schoolyard at P.S. 216 will be the first four-season example of the ESY program and the first in New York City. Its goal is to create a space in which the schoolchildren plant, harvest, prepare food and eat together, creating a comprehensive interdisciplinary curriculum, tied into New York State Standards, that connects food systems to academic subjects such as literacy, science, social studies, math, and the arts. 

Seeing how one school in New Orleans can inspire a school in New York City has inspired me to want to start an Edible Schoolyard at a school in Philadelphia. Not only will this garden teach children how to garden and eat healthy but their hands on experience will strongly excite and impact them to take their pride for the garden home. A program like this not only can start a chain reaction in the community but across the nation.