Tampa students get hands-on lesson in healthy eating

TAMPA, Fla. — March is National Nutrition Month, and with childhood obesity on the rise across the U.S., teaching kids about nutrition early in life is more important than ever.

Last week, students from Graham Elementary School in Tampa took a unique field trip to the TampaWell Community Garden to learn how to be fueled for success.

What You Need To Know

Tampa students visited a community garden to learn about nutrition and gardening

The TampaWell Community Garden is located in a food desert and provides fresh produce

Activities included nutrition lessons, scavenger hunts, and seed planting

Finding healthy foods isn’t always easy, and for some communities, it’s even harder, but students tackled healthy eating head-on.

“We’re taking them through a nutrition lesson, and then we’re also putting them out doing scavenger hunts and planting little seeds so they can grow their own vegetables and fruits and we really wanted to emphasis the importance of eating whole food,” said Karen Buckenheimer.

Buckenheimer is the Executive Director of More Health, a nonprofit that teaches health and safety lessons to children and their families. They hosted students along with TGH, their founding partner, at the TampaWell Community Garden, a true oasis in a designated food desert.

“By educating them how they can have their own garden in their backyard, or come here to the TampaWell location it really does empower them to be able to have fresh fruit and vegetables, and learn how to start their family off right and establish those habits at a very young age,” said Buckenheimer.

Which is key—according to the CDC, one in five school-aged children have obesity, putting them at higher risk for other chronic health conditions and diseases. Pediatricians say events like this can have a big impact on these kids’ lives.

“A lot of kids, unfortunately, don’t have that exposure. We all have really busy lives these days, and I know parents are busy working to put food on that table but they might not have that extra minute or two to explain why they’re making the choices they are for their children’s nutrition,” said Stephanie Saldarriaga, MD.

And she hopes the lessons these students learned will help plant the seeds for a lifetime of healthy choices. 

In addition to hosting students, the TampaWell Community Garden is also a resource for the community. TGH says it serves one of the most food-insecure neighborhoods in the city, providing nutritious fruits and vegetables to high-risk patients and people in the community.