Build. Grow. Inspire.

Official Description: We will cover how to create healthy, safe, engaging, supportive, and challenging opportunities through gardening in after school programming. Based on the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model - the CDC’s framework for addressing health in schools - we will explore PQA tenets and strategies with a focus on health and social-emotional skills. This workshop will offer hands-on activities for engaging students of all ages in outdoor settings. All attendees will make connections, build self-confidence and awareness, and practice real-life skills students will use to develop lifelong healthy habits.

Layman's Description: Discover and learn in our garden, and be inspired to start your own! We will get our hands dirty exploring this ideal afterschool environment, all-the-while practicing the skills to develop healthy living and SEL in all our students.

DO Conference Hype:  Many 21st CCLC programs focus on literacy and math skills. This workshop focuses on the 21st Century skills, such as flexibility, leadership, initiative, and problem-solving. By learning how to take care of a garden, students become increasingly curious, self-aware, and confident. Interacting with the environment, students learn how to take care of their community and develop lifelong skills and healthy habits. Studies show spending time in nature helps increase physical activity, which in turn reduces the risk of obesity and supports social-emotional growth through improved relationship skills. Gardens are also ideal spaces for reducing stress, anger, and aggression.

Presenter:  Rey Cooley, a former high school teacher, turned project manager, chef, and farmer, has experience with both school day and out-of-school programming. Currently the Program Manager for the Walla Walla Valley Farm to School program at the Sustainable Living Center, Rey facilitates afterschool and summer gardening programs throughout the region. Speaking of region, Rey is also the Regional Hub Coordinator for the Oregon Farm to School School Garden Network and a trainer for Healthy Schools Washington. Rey has a passion for sustainable agriculture - a desire to leave the earth better than she found it - and wants to instill the same passion in our younger generations for a healthier, more equitable and sustainable world. Walla Walla Valley Farm 2 School staff members Sarah Cohn, Ephraimia Reese, and Karen Wagner will also assist with the facilitation of this workshop.