Bolstering a statewide effort to combat childhood obesity by bringing vegetable gardening to schools is the aim of study being conducted by four Clinton School students.
Working with the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Research Institute, the students will develop a plan for sustaining gardens in schools launched in a national garden research study.
Clinton School students Ashley Bachelder of Athol, Mass., Gregory Cooper of Kansas City, Mo., Shamim Okolloh of Nairobi, Kenya and Jared Rowell of Los Angeles will work with the research institute to help schools keep up garden programs participating in the Delta Garden Study. The students will explore the financial, human, social and infrastructure factors needed to ensure the long-term viability of school gardens in the Central and Delta regions of Arkansas.
The garden study is paid for with a $2 million, three-year grant from the USDA Agricultural Research Service. Schools are provided with a garden manager, lesson plans and all the resources required for garden upkeep and maintenance. More than 4,000 students at 20 schools will have participated by the end of the grant’s third year, making it the largest school garden research study in the nation.
Adolescent obesity rates in Arkansas are 38 percent, well above the national average. The garden study was developed to combat this public health concern. Investigators at the children’s hospital hope to show that integrating school garden activities into the sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade science curricula will decrease student obesity rates and increase academic performance.
“A school garden is a great interactive learning experience that has unlimited potential for teaching core science concepts,” said Dr. Judith Weber, principal investigator for the Delta Garden Study and associate professor in the department of pediatrics at University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. “The best part is that none of this requires any special talent or skills, which is why we hope to engage all students in each participating school, thereby reaching the children who need it the most.”
The Clinton School students bring a wide range of experiences to the project, including education programming, environmental advocacy, fundraising and nonprofit management. They say they look forward to using their skills and knowledge to ensure the long-term success of the garden study.
“Being in the field at different schools and gardens through our work with the Delta Garden Study is what makes the Clinton School so unique,” Cooper said. “This is theory put into action.”
The study is one of eight group projects students are completing this year in the Clinton School’s Practicum program, one of three for-credit public service projects in the Master of Public Service degree program.
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