Michael A. Gliniak

Gliniak developed the "Healthy Foods for Healthy Kids (HFHK)" project to teach eighth-grade students how to grow a vegetable garden and how to cook what they've grown. With 800 square feet of raised bed vegetable gardens at Springer Middle School, more than 350 students plant, harvest and taste a variety of vegetables. This hands-on gardening experience not only makes learning more meaningful to students, but it also enhances achievement and comprehension, promoting integration of knowledge across subjects. Gliniak's green thumb program encourages students to eat more vegetables, try new ones, improve their diets and health awareness and become more aware of agricultural and environmental issues. Gliniak plans to also engage his students in expanding the school's composting area and increasing HFHK's ecological emphasis. Students have already demonstrated they will eat vegetables they have grown themselves, including chard, beets, radishes, turnips and arugula. Gliniak resides in New Castle.