South Dearborn Middle School "Grows" Lunch Initiative

Friday, November 8, 2019 at 7:23 AM

The Towers to Trays initiative promotes fun and healthy eating.

(Aurora, Ind.) - South Dearborn Middle School has started to GROW their lunch.

On August 1, the first seeds were planted, and by September, the staff was filling student's bowls with fresh produce.

The Tower to Trays pilot program is proving to be a huge success in the school, to say the least.

Mary Sturgeon, Food Service Director for South Dearborn Community School Corporation, learned about indoor aeroponic growing from former science teacher and avid indoor aeroponic gardener, Colleen Perfect.

The two went to work to brainstorm ideas on how to incorporate the cafeteria staff and begin growing food in the school cafeteria.

Perfect reached out to JTM Food Group, a national leader in creating healthy, fully-cooked menu solutions for the K-12 and foodservice industries. JTM decided to partner with Colleen and Mary to create a pilot program at South Dearborn Middle School, named Tower to Tray.

The two towers used at SDMS are Tower Garden aeroponic gardening systems by Juice Plus+.

Since these towers are inside it give the school the opportunity to grow plants year-round without the worry of pests and without the labor of weeding and caring for a traditional outdoor garden.

At the school's Harvest Event on November 7, 95.45% of the students purchased the "My Way Asian Bar" lunch, while only 4.545% of the students purchased a pizza lunch.

The "My Way Asian Bar" featured the choice of whole grain brown rice or yakisoba noodles mixed with vegetables and bok choy, a choice of steak or popcorn chicken, optional toppings of garlic ginger bok choy, mandarin oranges, pineapple, and their choice of General Tso, Korean BBQ, Sweet Thai Chili, and Hunan Orange sauces.

The students were given the opportunity to taste an Asian slaw featuring bok choy, which was grown and is currently growing at SDMS.

Not only are students getting the chance to eat fresh grown foods, but also to expand their culinary experiences. Many students admitted that they had never eaten bok choy and some stating they had never eaten Asian food before.

These tower have grown several varieties of lettuce for their salad bar and sandwiches, basil for their pasta dishes, and most recently bok choy.

Sturgeon has led South Dearborn Middle School through every step of this journey. She tells us that with all of the support shown by the staff and students, they will continue to showcase more Tower to Tray themed lunch events throughout the school year.

You can watch a video that explains our inspiration and goals of this Tower to Tray pilot program

If you would like to learn more about Tower Garden by Juice Plus+, you can contact Colleen Perfect by calling 812-584-5218, or emailing at moreveggies.colleen@gmail.com.

Learn more at colleenperfect.towergarden.com.