Gordon school system earns a Bronze Radish
Gordon County Schools was honored at the 2019 Golden Radish Awards at the Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Gordon County Schools was awarded a Bronze Radish for excellence in Farm to School.
Gordon County Schools was recognized for the work of its district Teacher of the Year, Nikki Hampton, as part of the STEAM program at W. L. Swain Elementary School. Through this program:
Kindergarten through fifth grade students planted and cared for the Victory Garden. Fifth grade students harvested the produce they grew to make vegetable soup for veterans who visited the school in November as part of the Veteran’s Day celebration.
Kindergarten students made applesauce to taste test and integrate math by creating tables and graphing the results.
Fourth grade students learned about the three sisters in conjunction with a Native American Social Studies unit.
The Golden Radish Award is given to Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) in Georgia who are doing extraordinary work in farm to school. This work includes best practices in farm to school programs, such as local food procurement, exposing students to new foods through taste tests and incorporating gardening and cooking activities in curriculum.
LEAs are recognized at five levels. Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze and Honorary Radishes are awarded to recognize LEAs with varying levels of farm to school programs.
Georgia Organics created the Golden Radish Awards in 2015 to raise awareness for Georgia’s emerging Farm to School programs and share the best practices among awardees. Georgia Organics’ chairs the Golden Radish Committee and facilitates the awards process annually to recognize Farm to School excellence across Georgia.
The Award is presented by Golden Radish partners (Georgia Organics, Georgia’s Departments of Agriculture (GDA), Education (GaDOE) and Public Health (GDPH), the Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL) and University of Georgia Cooperative Extension (UGA Extension).
Gordon County Schools is among 90 Georgia school districts recognized at the 2019 Golden Radish Awards. Collectively, these districts served over 2 million meals featuring local food and tended 4,646 school gardens while conducting 4,432 hands-on food and gardening activities.