Greenville County School District

Project Description

At Greenville County Schools, the Project Produce grant provided an opportunity to expose students to a variety of produce. Culinary Specialist at Greenville, Paula Wambeke, says they used the funds to procure locally grown Asian Pears, muscadines, gooseberries, Brussel Sprouts, Scratch-made hummus with red peppers, sweet potatoes, starfruit, pomegranates and spaghetti squash.

A display of the items were located in the cafeteria where it could be seen as students walked in to the serving area. Samples were offered from the serving line and by staff who circulated through the cafeteria and sat down with classes during their lunch period. According to Wambeke, the staff explained how to eat the produce, its origins, and how to use it in recipes. They did so by taking the time to sit and have conversations with students and as a result, building relationships with them.

Successes

• Gaining student trust with taste tests
• Seeing children discover new things
• New interaction with students while introducing them to the world of fresh produce

Challenges

• Time commitment
• Lack of availability of certain produce