Santa Cruz County High School Students Try Some Real Food For a Change

Too many high school students know the basic food groups as burger, pizza, shake and fries.

But last week, the appropriately named Food What!? took them to new levels of appreciation for what real food is at its annual Harvest Festival.

Over 200 high schoolers from schools all over the county, including , Soquel and Santa Cruz got to taste healthy alternatives at UCSC's Farm and Garden program. They also tried pumpkin carving, apple pressing, sack races, goat and chicken petting, pizza and apple pie making, beekeeping and a tractor pulled hay-ride.

Food What!?'s goal is to use food education as a vehicle for youth empowerment and as a way of filling in the common gaps in a typical high school education.

Max Tejada, 16, of Harbor High and events manager for this year's harvest festival said that Food What!? “tries to give kids knowledge about what they put in their bodies and how they are voting with what foods they buy.”

The high school students also learned they can get internships at the farm.

“The program is mostly geared towards alternative high schools," said Sam Gouveia, 18, a recent graduate from Coastanoa High. "It is once a week for twelve weeks, and then you get paid a stipend. You also become eligible for the summer program. At the summer program you attend talks about food; you do growing, harvesting and weeding, basic agriculture work."

It's not just educational but fun, said Kayla Kropp, 18, a recent graduate from Highlands High School.

“Its really fun, and its good work experience. They train you to be a leader and more confident.”

Food What!? is more than simply an agricultural education program, however.

“Food What!? does not consider itself a farm program per se," said Abby Bell, farm and program coordinator for the organization. "It is leadership job training. It teaches all kinds of basic life skills. Growing food becomes the vehicle to learn basic life skills that we don't learn elsewhere. The gardens become tools for learning everything from math and science to public speaking, communication, and how to show up for a job on time.”

The program is designed to give youths the confidence and competence to make intelligent life decisions.

“It is about nutrition and diet, but we don't say 'don't eat that,' we say 'eat this too.'” said Bell.

The program has had positive effects for many of its members.

“A lot of people in our group have matured a lot from being part of the program," said Gouvella. "I know I have matured quite a bit.”

The high schoolers at the Harvest Festival voted for their favorite apples and favorite squash (butternut was the clear winner), learned about the important role organic farming plays in the environment and in nutrition, and watched a skits about the role food plays in everyday life. They saw banana production broken into distinct steps, and learned how the money consumers spend is divided among each step.

Students were urged to pet goats while eating cheese made from the goats' milk. The goats are the sole survivors of a mountain lion attack on the herd earlier this year.

“The goats are now afraid of even the small house cats that live around the farm. They see how it moves; a cat is a cat.” said Gayle Halamoff, who works with the goats as part of the Life Lab program.

The goats are both pregnant and are expected to give birth in February.

For many of the students, the Harvest Festival was a welcome change of pace from the normal school day. Eduardo Hernandez, 17, of Harbor High said as he held a black chicken; “It is really fun. Its cool for students to go around and enjoy all the organic stuff.”

Joanna Gibson, 14, of Soquel High pressed apples into juice.

“It was really really fun, and more people should come here, honestly. It would be great for little kids. They would have so much fun.”