San Diego teacher named Outstanding Educator

An educator who teaches gardening and cooking to students from transitional kindergarten through sixth grade has been honored with the Outstanding Educator of the Year Award.

Jessica Eves, a teacher at Darnall Charter School in the Redwood Village neighborhood of San Diego, enhances her lessons on food education, agriculture and horticulture by pairing them with literature that focuses on the same themes as corresponding lessons.

In her classes, students go through the entire process of planting seeds, nurturing the growing plants and then bringing the crops into the cooking classroom to prepare simple recipes.

Eves also runs a Junior Master Gardener program that teaches students about agricultural concepts, including fertilizing, irrigation and propagation, and provides students with the opportunity to sell their seedlings at a local farmers market.

“When students understand agriculture, it influences how they eat,” Eves said. “It helps them understand how much goes into making their food, and this inspires them to want to make good food choices.

“As students have watched food grow in our school garden, they are amazed at how one little seed can produce so much food and also how long it takes for it to happen,” she added. “This creates an appreciation for their food that cannot be replicated.”

“Jessica Eves’ hands-on approach to bringing agriculture into the classroom is inspiring,” said Becca Whitman, executive director of the California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom. “Teaching students where their food comes from is one thing. Helping them grow that food is another. Teachers like Jessica encourage a lifelong appreciation for agriculture.”

The award was presented by the California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom at the 106th California Farm Bureau Annual Meeting in Monterey last week.