By: Alissa Pantuosco
Alissa Pantuosco is a Farm to School Contractor at Georgia Organics.
Each year, Georgia Organics coordinates a statewide campaign for October Farm to School Month to get kids across Georgia eating, growing, and learning about a locally grown produce item. This year we are focusing on the versatile herb, parsley!
Georgia’s Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) has been a key partner in the October Farm to School Month campaign. FCCLA is a nationwide program that provides students with opportunities to expand their leadership potential and develop lifelong skills. Through this campaign, FCCLA has inspired innovative and engaging projects that ignite student’s interest in nutrition and healthy eating.
During the Georgia FCCLA Fall Leadership Rally on October 9th and 16th, students had the opportunity to engage with other FCCLA programs through competitive culinary events, hear a motivational message, and network with schools across Georgia. Eighteen chapters submitted their parsley-themed projects, making it a challenging competition to judge, with unique projects across the board.
Below, we highlight our 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners for the Georgia Organics competition, part of FCCLA's Fall Leadership Rally.
Pictured: Houston County High School FCCLA students
Babb FCCLA / Babb Middle School FACS
3rd Place
Babb Middle School FACS students and FCCLA members kicked off this year by growing parsley in their chapter's garden bed to use in various food labs.
In September, during Babb Middle School's curriculum night, the students used their garden grown parsley to prepare tabbouleh for parents, students, faculty, and staff members. During this event, students learned food safety, knife skills, and recipe scaling skills as they served tabbouleh to over 200 individuals!
Taking the tabbouleh recipe to their afterschool chapter meeting, they sampled the recipe with additional students, and each participant received a copy of the recipe with information on the nutritional value of parsley to take home. The students also incorporated a cultural education component, researching and teaching about the origin of tabbouleh, learning more about this traditional salad from the Levant region.
Babb Middle School’s project brought parsley and tabbouleh to the community in a fun and culturally responsive way, and for that they’ve parSLAY-ed third place in the competition!
To learn more about Babb Middle School FCCLA, follow them on Facebook (G.P. Babb Middle School) and Instagram (@babbmiddleschool).
Houston County High School FCCLA / Early Childhood Education
2nd Place
Houston County High School FCCLA members visited Little Bears Preschool to teach the younger students about the health benefits of parsley and lead them in several parsley-themed activities. They created ways to make learning about parsley fun and relatable to the preschoolers by designing "ParSLAY superhero" cartoon flyers. They also shared a read-aloud video to help the preschoolers understand how herbs and vegetables are grown, and what farmers do while teaching the meaning of farm-to-table.
The FCCLA students made parsley crowns and prepared parsley butter with the Little Bears preschoolers for a taste test. They then asked developmentally appropriate questions to guide the preschoolers in making sensory observations regarding parsley's taste, texture, and smell!
For connecting with their preschool friends and engaging them in nutrition education in such engaging and creative ways, Houston County High School FCCLA parSLAY-ed second place!
To learn more about Houston County High School FCCLA, visit their website.
Pictured: Students at Little Bear Preschool, provided by Houston County High School FCCLA
Ware County High School FCCLA / Culinary Arts
1st Place
Ware County High School culinary arts students created menus for a whole week, highlighting parsley in the meals that were served at the Gator Bistro, an on-campus restaurant they manage for teachers. Leading up to the parsley-themed week’s activities, they promoted the ParSLAY the Day campaign by making posters, trivia games, and public service announcements that informed the students and faculty about parsley's health benefits and culinary uses.
A group of students also conducted a ParSLAY Booth in the cafeteria to educate students about the uses of parsley while sharing samples of foods containing parsley for students to try. This project fully came together by using technology at the information booths in the Bistro and the Cafeteria. A trivia Kahoot was shared via QR Code with students and faculty to test their parsley knowledge and use the data to assess the success of the ParSLAY campaign. For their innovative and comprehensive approach, Ware County High School FCCLA parSLAY-ed first place in the competition.
To learn more about Ware County High School FCCLA, follow them on Instagram (@warecofccla).
Pictured: Houston County High School FCCLA students
Thank you to all the GA FCCLA Chapters who participated in creating unique projects to continue to make October Farm to School Month a huge success!
To learn more about Georgia Organics, visit georgiaorganics.org or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
