Princeton Day School
The Harvest Dinner
Princeton Day School
Our goal
The goal was to celebrate our new garden program and teach the community about how eating locally is better for personal and planetary health.
How we are doing it
The students invited the entire pre K-12 school community to a "Harvest Dinner." They created the menu with our school chef, created the invitations, did the publicity, decorated the room with found nature decorations, cooked all the food, served, gave garden tours and talked about the program, did a presentation on why eating locally matters, and cleaned up. We even had a homegrown bluegrass band made of students and parents.
What we are learning
The dinner was a huge success. The students, parents, and all the guests learned about the importance of eating local food and that eating low on the food chain could be delicious as well. The students also learned how to organize and work together towards a common goal. Finally, we raised $1,800 that will go towards paying for our garden manager/teacher.
What was amazing about this was the sense of community that arose both in the creating of the event as well as during the evening. Our school garden is only 1 1/2 years old, but it's clear that it has become a very important part of the school's academic program and its emotional life.
School Information
School:
Princeton Day School
Grade level:
9-12
Number of students in your project:
15
Subjects:
Other (please specify in box below)
Other subjects:
Club Event
Number of students in your school:
920
Project initiator:
Teacher and students from the upper school EnAct and Garden Clubs
Contact Information
Liz Cutler,
Sustainability Coordinator
79 Hun Rd. Princeton,
NJ
08540
http://www.pds.org
