The Health Promotion Center at Glens Falls Hospital and area school districts are trying to increase their farm-to-school efforts and agricultural learning in the classroom.
Local school districts have partnered with the center. The goal is to further promote health and wellness for district students, faculty, staff, and community.
Officials said the districts benefit from the support of Creating Healthy Schools and Communities (CHSC), a state Department of Health grant secured by Glens Falls Hospital. The CHSC initiative strives to increase physical activity and access to healthy foods in our communities and schools, whether this be through school districts, early childcare centers, work sites, or community settings.
The Health Promotion Center of Glens Falls Hospital works to improve the health and well-being of the people and communities in the region. Its work focuses on strategies to make it easier for people to eat well, be tobacco-free, be physically active, and obtain preventative care.
This work is currently supported through numerous grant-funded initiatives housed within the Health Promotion Center, including Creating Healthy Schools and Communities, Health Systems for a Tobacco-Free NY, and Cancer Prevention in Action programs.
Schools in Warren and Washington counties have gravitated toward indoor growing systems, which can be incorporated into the classroom and school year schedule. Classrooms from preschool to grade 12—including science, home and careers, and special education classes—have integrated gardens, allowing teachers to utilize them for several topic areas and lessons.
Presently Granville, Whitehall, Johnsburg, and North Warren school districts have indoor growing capacity. Classrooms are growing produce such as microgreens, parsley, cucumbers, tomatoes, chili peppers, and arugula. Officials said they have provided their harvests to the school cafeteria to be used in their schools’ meal programs, classroom taste testing, and meals cooked by the Family and Consumer Science class.
At Mary J. Tanner Primary School, special education students in grades 1-3 have a relationship with the agricultural students from Granville Junior and Senior High School. The students in the high school program visit the primary school and assist with their tower garden and mentor the students on growing skills. The model is beginning to be replicated in other school districts.
The Preschool at Mary J. Tanner has also started to grow vegetables in their classrooms with a grow tower, which allows them to learn about the chemistry of aquaponics.
Johnsburg has indoor grow trays in several of their classrooms beginning with Preschool, as well as, in their science and Family and Consumer Science classrooms. Sarah Fink, science teacher at Johnsburg Central School, said, “A huge success for us is that we have met as a team and put together a great proposal for extending our garden to an outdoor one next year. Just yesterday our superintendent gave me the go-ahead to go forward with planning, which is extremely exciting.”
Whitehall Central School has indoor grow trays and towers at both the junior and senior high cafeteria and special education classroom, as well as in the science lab at the elementary school. They have harvested lettuce and herbs for their lunch program.
North Warren School has integrated growing into both their FACS class and health classes. plans for the end of the school year included reinvigorating their community garden which has been vacant since COVID.
Schools have formed garden committees and the Health Promotion Center has created a network of teachers and food service directors that have integrated gardening into their classrooms and school districts. Teachers can ask questions of other teachers throughout the two counties to help guide them through the ups and downs of gardening.
For the 2023-2024 school year, two more school districts, Fort Edward and Hudson Falls, will partner with CHSC to implement and grow their programs as well as Christ Church and North Warren preschool programs.
For questions regarding the grants or the Health Promotion Center of Glens Falls Hospital call 518-926-5919.
Glens Falls Hospital serves patients across five diverse counties in an area that spans 6,000 square miles. Founded in 1897, the main Glens Falls Hospital campus is home to the C.R. Wood Cancer Center, the Joyce Stock Snuggery Childbirth Center, the Breast Center, and the Wound Healing Center.
Along with the main hospital, more than 20 regional facilities provide a vast array of specialized medical and surgical services, including coronary care, behavioral health care, rehabilitation, and wellness services. Glens Falls Hospital is a member of the Albany Med Health System, which also includes Albany Medical Center, Albany Medical College, Columbia Memorial Health, Saratoga Hospital, and the Visiting Nurses.