Vertical Gardening in Schools

(Scroll down to the TED Talk link to get to the point of this post.)

Today in my 9th grade class, we were reflecting on the missionaries' effects in Igboland in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. We compared the different missionary groups and their approaches. After, we listened to this audio clip from NPR: Missionaries In Africa Doing More Harm Than Good?, which is a reflection on current missionary work.

Following the audio clip, we analyzed how missionaries can help, what methods they should go about to be most effective, and the possible negative consequences of missionaries. The students followed this discussion by imagining what steps a "missionary" should go through if he/she came to Frontier and wanted to help the Frontier community.

Their suggestions included:
-Observing classrooms, writing down their conclusions, and then showing their conclusions to the students and faculty to gain feedback
-Talk to the students and faculty to understand the culture of the school
-Consider what could be integrated into the school to help the community, rather than replacing existing models
-Conduct surveys
-Learning about the history of the school
-Hearing from students and faculty about what the school prides itself on

After this list was made, we discussed what the "missionary" might find the school wants to improve. In an overwhelmingly, unanimous response, all of the students said "the food."

Well, after breaking down the specific problems with the food and the causes of these problems, the students came up with some pretty awesome solutions. I know I just arrived here, but I also remember the food being the number one issue with students two years ago as well. I couldn't help but think about this amazing TED Talk I saw last summer. Here it is: A Teacher Growing Green in the South Bronx

What do you think? Do you think that vertical gardening is something that could be right for Frontier to supplement the cafeteria food?