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Photo Courtesy of Phillip VanderKamp.
Students make a pumpkin pie from an organic pumpkin as part of a farm-to-table lesson at Camp McDowell.
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Photo Courtesy of Phillip VanderKamp.
A group of Louis Pizitz Middle School students are learning about more than math and language arts, and this month that learning will move even further from the classroom.
The Pizitz Middle Eco Club is an eighth-period class designed to teach students about the environment, gardening, raising animals, recycling and other eco-friendly activities.
Club co-sponsors and Pizitz teachers Kelly Sorrell and Phillip VanderKamp said the club has grown in popularity in its three years, and this year they have 53 students participating.
“The goal is that they become citizen-scientists and environmental citizens,” VanderKamp said. “That they have an awareness of their environment and surroundings.”
In the classroom, students learn about things such as creating a pollinator garden and growing plants as well as following different curriculums, such as materials from the Cornell University eBird program and visits from local wildlife experts and farmers.
However, the learning is not confined to the walls of the school.
Later this month, the Eco Club will travel to Camp McDowell, which is north of Jasper.
The students will participate in the Farm School program, which focuses on farm-to-table cooking and eating, farm plants and gardening and caring for farm animals.
Students also get the chance to go on hikes, something several of the Eco Club group said they are excited about.
“I like the hikes, because it’s really a chance to get away from technology,” said seventh-grader Haley Edwards.
Haley went on the Camp McDowell trip last year, and she said she also is looking forward to getting to pet chickens, hang out with rabbits, milk the goats and plant vegetables.
Others who have been to the camp before, such as seventh-grader Stephanie Wright, said they are excited about the chance to not only learn about growing vegetables, but about the chance to cook with them.
The Farm School has a kitchen classroom where students can help prepare meals and learn about food waste and how to be eco-friendly in the kitchen.
Last year, Stephanie said the group made pesto pasta, and even though she had never had pesto before, she said she really liked it.
Even students who haven’t been to the Farm School said they are excited about the cooking.
Sixth-grader Philip Cundiff has been to Camp McDowell for another program, and said he is looking forward to going back.
“I’m kind of excited to harvest and plant,” Philip said. “Usually it’s my mom that makes all the food, but I also kind of want to have the chance to make food, too.”
VanderKamp said the farm-to-table idea is a large part of their curriculum, because they want the students to understand where their food comes from, and the difference between organic, home-grown produce compared to grocery-store fare.
Sorrell said she also thinks it’s a good way to encourage the students to make healthy food choices from now into adulthood, as well as get them outside and exercising.
The students will be at Camp McDowell for three days, but Sorrell and VanderKamp said they hope the students will take what they are learning and use it in the community, as the group has already started doing with a community garden.
“We want to make this part of the community as well,” Sorrell said.
Students themselves gave several reasons they think more people should get involved with Eco Club.
“Eco Club teaches us responsibility to care for our Earth,” Haley said.
Philip was just as eager, adding he thinks it’s a good way to try something new and meet new people.
“It’s not something you would do every day,” he said.
