Denise Robinson

Robinson’s innovative teaching idea, “Healthy Foods for Healthy Kids (HFHK),” is designed to allow students to engage in hands-on gardening activities through lessons that support the therapeutic curriculum. Many of the students have been classified as at-risk for not completing high school due to extreme behavioral, emotional and or social deficiencies. Without therapeutic support, the students will have trouble meeting basic requirements for literacy and job readiness, not even qualifying for entry-level positions. The school’s S.A.L.T. (Student Serving Society and Learning Too) program participants will develop a vegetable garden and distribute the harvest to the community. Through Education Cultivation Garden lessons, students will have opportunities to use all of their senses and make learning fun, regardless of their learning styles and capabilities. For Robinson’s project, she will modify her lessons to serve a class of approximately 25 students. All students will participate in all of the lessons, allowing them to experience "seed to communities table" growing during spring 2015. The lessons will be taught by an HFHK program associate.