Connally ISD garden to offer teaching tools, food desert relief

What started as a teacher’s small plot to give

students a chance to explore science outside the classroom has turned into a 3-acre vision for Connally Independent School District students to address a food desert in their area, district officials said.

Through a recent $20,000 grant and with the help of donors and volunteers, Connally Elementary School teachers and students will start the school year building a meditation and community garden behind the campus parking lot.

Teachers, maintenance workers and volunteers spent the past few weeks clearing brush and setting up the start of several teaching stations throughout the space, which was used as a homestead years ago, said Teresa Kelm, a fifth-grade science teacher who helped apply for the grant with help from Region 12 Education Service Center representatives.

“This started because I have a master’s in nutrition and I am very concerned with where childhood obesity is going and the fact that they don’t have a lot of access to nutritious foods,” Kelm said. “In one of my classes, we learned about food deserts, and I realized this area is a food desert. If somebody didn’t have transportation, they could not walk to healthy food. All they have is the nearest convenience store.”
Source http://www.wacotrib.com/news/education/connally-isd-garden-to-offer-teaching-tools-food-desert-relief/article_0213820c-ee5c-5de6-9f9f-7b999e3e7886.html