The B.E.S.T. Academy at the Thomas W. Dortch Jr. Institute will soon be able to provide fresh produce for its community after cutting the ribbon for its new Indoor Agriculture Center.
In partnership with the 100 Black Men of Atlanta, Southern Company, Georgia Power, Georgia Tech, Goodr, and EPRI, B.E.S.T. Academy students developed a solution for the lack of an immediate grocery store within their community.
“This was important to us because our community is in a food desert,” B.E.S.T. Academy senior Mariyo Magette said. “It’s very heartwarming and rewarding to know that we can provide the produce the community needs to be healthy according to the FDA standard.”
What was once just a storage container has been converted into an indoor agriculture center that can be operational year-round. No matter the season or the weather, the container is capable of producing approximately 120 pounds of fresh vegetables per week while also using less water than typically needed.
“It really feels good to finally have it actually here,” Magette said. “We’re really looking forward to actually planting seeds and getting our first yield so we can start giving it out to the community.”
The idea for this project was initiated about two years ago when a group of B.E.S.T. Academy students in the school’s STEM P.O.D. (Pathways of Development) were invited by Georgia Power to a conference in Savannah, Georgia. The students brought the idea back and worked with their mentors from the 100 Black Men of Atlanta to make it a reality.
“We really wanted to have a larger impact within the community,” B.E.S.T. Academy principal Robert Williams said. “It’s been a two-year project in the making, starting from the idea of being in a food desert. Our students wanted to come up with solutions, and the indoor agriculture unit was the answer.”
The students even reached out to the community to ask what produce they should grow. One teacher has developed a healthy menu based on the variety of vegetables the students have planned to grow, including turnips, kale, spinach, thyme, and basil.
In just a few weeks, students in the STEM P.O.D. will begin getting familiar with their new indoor agriculture container and begin training. Not long after, the first seeds will be planted, and the process will begin. The container is set up where the plants can be easily transferred, and new growth can begin soon after the previous wave of vegetables has been harvested. “The students are so excited,” B.E.S.T. Academy STEM coordinator Michelle Williams said. “They were out here excited because they know where we started and where we are now. They can’t wait to get in there.”