Search
- Home
- Profiles
- Price, Camryn G.
- Articles
- Tensas students growing food for the community
Students at Tensas Academy in St. Joseph, Louisiana are learning about science and service outside the walls of a classroom.
“The Tensas Academy garden allows our students to experience a truly hands-on approach to where their food is coming from and how they can make a difference in a person’s well-being,” said school garden coordinator Kristen VandeVen. “They learn about plants, insects, soil science, and nutrition. And at the heart of it all, they learn to help others.”
Thanks to VandeVen and sixth grade students, Tensas Academy is now the first school in the state to have students trained in the LSU AgCenter’s Grow a Row to Share program. This program connects home gardeners and local farmers with charitable food partners to funnel garden “extras” into the community.
VandeVen began the school garden in fall 2021 through the LSU AgCenter’s Farm Fresh Meals for Louisiana mini-grant program. Goals for their garden include donating produce through Grow a Row to Share, offering taste tests to students, and selling produce at the local farmers market.
For more information on enrolling as a garden partner or charitable food partner with the LSU AgCenter’s Grow a Row to Share program, please contact Cecilia Stevens at cstevens@agcenter.lsu.edu.
The LSU AgCenter and the LSU College of Agriculture