Moving Forward

Yesterday I presented my proposal, which I thought went quite well. I got some great ideas on how to promote health and really move forward in my project. I realized that I need to take pictures of my project as it progresses as a sort of accountability method. Also, I want to try to get the students at Oakbrook to eat healthier ad one way of promoting health is by offering healthier snacks during snack-time. For a one week period, I want to completely eliminate all the junk-food options and just have healthier snacks available to see if the students respond positively. It will be an experiment. I want to make students understand that eating healthier results in more energy and, in the long-run, feeling better and even performing better academically as well as in athletics. I want to have a viewing of the documentary FoodInc at the beginning of this “Energy” week, so that students are more aware of what they are eating and how it affects their bodies and minds.

This past weekend after church on Sunday, I got a compost barrel for the school, as well as two smaller compost bins- one for the Senior Commons and the other for the 4^th grade class. Once I actually bring the large compost bin to school, I plan to get my cohorts and the 4^th grade started on composting and at the end of every day, I will empty the two smaller compost bins in the larger one outside. I have already introduced the idea of composting and organic gardening to the 4^th grade class this past Tuesday, so now, they are just waiting for me to tell them when they can start. The next step in my project is for the 4^th grade to bring in large, empty, milk cartons so that we can start planting broccoli and lettuce in them in the classroom and let those plants be growing while I am in the process of building the raised beds. One of the next few weekends, I plan to get the wood and build the raised beds. The challenge is finding the time to do it. Also, last week, I took some of the soil from where the garden will be to the Clemson Extension Service so that they could tell me what the soil needs, but they said I didn’t have enough soil, so I have to go back one of these days and try again. That’s about it for now!