Students Dig Deep in Cascade’s Garden Project

HMSHost has helped to develop a garden project, complete with a fruit and vegetable garden, on the school grounds of Cascade Elementary. Celebrity Chef Marvin Woods, together with APS students and HMSHost Atlanta-area employees, prepared the soil and planted tomatoes,strawberries, beans, lettuce and a selection of other fruit trees throughout the garden.

Teachers Kenya Greer and Courtney Spraggins are in charge of Cascade Elementary’s garden project, and they are excited about the opportunity for students to continue to learn that growing food is an exciting and rewarding experience. 

“We love sharing our passion for gardening with our students, and are thrilled to have Chef Marvin’s and HMSHost’s support,” they explained. “We realize the importance of including the community and other stakeholders in helping our children learn. They are more enthusiastic about learning the standards through a hands-on approach.”

The goal of the partnership between HMSHost, Chefs Move to Schools, Chef Marvin and APS is to support local student education and involvement in their own healthy eating habits. Chef Marvin was one of the first chefs invited to work with First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move!” cooking series, where he showed families how to prepare one week’s worth of healthy meals for under $80.

The garden’s growing season culminates in June with a harvesting “Field Day” for the students, followed by interactive cooking classes taught by Chef Woods using the fresh ingredients harvested from the school’s new garden.