Recipient Organization
MICHIGAN STATE UNIV
(N/A)
EAST LANSING,MI 48824
Performing Department
COMMUNITY SUSTAIN
Non Technical Summary
The overall project goal is to increase local food purchasing in two high schools in Michigan's food insecure Upper Peninsula through an innovative team-based learning approach. In support of this goal, three specific project goals were identified. First, the project will support the creation of Locally-Integrated Food Teams (LIFTs) within each of the twohigh schools. LIFTs will include students, a teacher, a health educator, a local producer, and the school food purchaser. Led by students, LIFTs will identify a challenge to increasing local food procurement within the school and develop, implement, and evaluate an intervention to overcome the identified challenge. The second project goal is to start or increase local food purchasing within the twohigh schools. Within each LIFT, smaller committees of students will focus on food production, economics of food, food processing, and marketing/education; groups will propose innovative solutions within their focal area in an effort to increase local food purchasing within their school. The third project goal is to engage students in a one-day leadership, FANH sciences, and career workshop. During the event, students will develop new skills in leadership, food production, and entrepreneurship; share their projects with peers; and be introduced to educational and career opportunities within local food systems. Our proposed approach will increase the capacity for local food education, advance nutrition education through an innovative approach, and foster community engagement among students; therefore, this project is extremely relevant to the goals of the FASLP program.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
Project Goal 1: Establish "Locally-Integrated Food Teams" in two high schools in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.Project Goal 2: The two high schools will start, or increase, procurement of local foods.Project Goal 3: Engage Upper Peninsula high school students in leadership, FANH sciences, and career training online workshop.
Project Methods
The Upper Peninsula Research and Extension Center (UPREC, home of Co-PDs Palmer and DeDecker) has an established working relationship with farmers and educators in the two identified high schools. Leveraging these connections, Co-PD Palmer and the MARESA Health Team Educator will facilitate an initial planning conversation with teachers in which goals, a school-specific timeline, and members of the LIFTs will be identified (e.g., which class, local producer). This planning team (i.e., Palmer, Health Team Educator, and school educator) will then recruit members of the LIFTs to engage in the project. At the classroom level, recruitment will include organizing students into four food system committees based on student interest - (a) food production, (b) economics of food, (c) food processing, and (d) marketing and education. During two classroom sessions in which all members of the LIFTs are present, learners will analyze farm-to-school systems using an institutional food purchasing assessment, developed by co-PD Warsaw early in the project. This assessment will illuminate current challenges to institutional local food purchasing across the domains for production, economics, processing, and marketing and education. For example, current school kitchen equipment may not be adequate for processing local foods. Committees of students will analyze the results of this assessment and will pitch an intervention to increase local food consumption within their school. Using the school funding ($2,000 per school), LIFTs will select one or more of the interventions proposed by the committees to implement. Students will work with members of the LIFTs to implement the intervention and evaluate the impact of the intervention on local food consumption within their school.At the end of project year one, students and teachers who participated in the LIFTs will attend the two-day LIFT-UP Online Workshop hosted by the Upper Peninsula Research and Extension Center (UPREC). This experience will include trainings for students relating to leadership, food systems, and educational/career options throughout the food system. PD-McKim will lead the development of workshop experiences relating to leadership, co-PDs Palmer and DeDecker will lead the workshops focused on food systems entrepreneurship and local food production, and co-PD Warsaw will lead workshops addressing the economics of local food production and farm-to-institution markets. In addition, committees of students (e.g., production, marketing and education) will breakout with peer committees from other schools to present their findings, interventions, and evaluation data. The day will conclude with workshops and a career and education fair, in which participating students will connect with local food system businesses and educational institutions (e.g., Bay College Institute of Agriculture Technology, Michigan State University) to identify opportunities to continue their work relating to local food systems through educational and/or professional pathways. During the online workshop, co-PD McKendree will complete the evaluation plan with students and teachers.