Adam Wilk

Wilk’s innovative teaching idea, “California Sustainability,” teaches high school students about crop sustainability, freshwater conservation and food production. Westminster High School has 87.5 percent of its students who qualify as low-income. In Orange County, residential properties are small, therefore, if residents want to produce their own food, they must maximize their square footage to yield sufficient output. In this program, students learn about using various farming methods to cultivate crops grown in California and determine which ones are most viable. Students plant various crops, weigh the output, and determine how long the food production could sustain a family in Southern California. In addition to examining the economic and societal impacts of food scarcity and inflation, students will apply science and math principles to learn about growing food.