It was a task like none other.
More than 250 students in various science classes at Kellam High School were going to put on a luncheon for a special group of visitors: More than 50 guests and committee members of the National Green Schools Conference.
Kellam science teachers Courtney Pace and Chris Freeman were asked by Tim Cole, the school division’s sustainability officer, to have their students conduct a project that both utilized the unique features of the new Kellam High School, but also showed how students can promote sustainability while participating in project-based learning.
The students had to not only plan the menu, but they also had to produce the food that would be served at the luncheon.
Pace and Freeman’s students collaborated on this project, which took close to three months to complete.
The end result?
A meal that had been totally secured by the students’ use of their individual skills and the unique learning facilities provided at Kellam as well as by the guidance given by their teachers.
In order to produce the meal, the students had to accomplish several things. A few students took time at home, and outside of class, to hunt a deer in order to have meat to create hunter’s stew. Biology students planted and cultivated wheat grass in one of the greenhouses in Kellam, which entailed germinating seeds in organic soil and tending to it every day in order to successfully grow the grass.
Students also grew spinach, beets, and mushrooms to be used in a salad and in the stew. Lastly, the students collected, and dehydrated Virginia Beach sea salt to be used to help prepare the meal.
These students successfully planned, prepared and implemented a meal using sustainable resources; thus, showcased the ways they could incorporate “green” living in their day to day lives.