BELONGING IN SERVICE-LEARNING
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students and low-income families in our county . Students are excited to use their creativity to benefit their community , and their designs and execution are always impressive . I encourage you to check out our service-learning Instagram at @ torreysgiveback to see photos of the students ’ truly incredible work from years past !
Upper School
Several years ago , Marianne Zupanc , Science Department Chair in the Upper School , approached me with a concern about our school-wide food drive . We typically do a friendly competition to encourage those in our school community — who are able to — to bring more items . One of the things I make sure to do with an eye toward inclusion is to have a “ grocery store ” in my office where students can come to shop ( free of charge , no questions asked ) if bringing food from home would be an undue burden on their household . She noticed that in her classroom the majority of the items were on the less healthy side , and she wondered if we might be able to add a service-learning component to her Biology classes to see if we could address this issue . Of course , my answer was an enthusiastic yes !
Marianne is an inspiring and incredible educator ( with whom I am lucky enough to co-teach a different class !) and together we designed a unit called “ Food For Thought .” We discuss food deserts with the
“ One of the main points that usually crops up is the myth of ‘ beggars can ’ t be choosers ,’ and we talk about why that ’ s a harmful adage . Students discuss the implications of a mentality in which only certain members of a community are deserving of healthy foods .”
students , a concept they ’ re already familiar with from previous years , and we also talk about the demographics of folks who are patrons of food banks in our area . ( Side note : in Dan Norland ’ s Government class in 2019-20 , LJCDS students mapped food deserts in San Diego and provided this information to the Biology classes , which was a great interdisciplinary collaboration !) One of the main points that usually crops up is the myth of “ beggars can ’ t be choosers ,” and we talk about why that ’ s a harmful adage . Students discuss the implications of a mentality in which only certain members of a community are deserving of healthy foods .
Marianne had students tap into their knowledge of a previous unit on nutrition and health and compare the nutri-
Page 10 Summer 2022 CSEE Connections