Written by: Cait Olesky

While schools are closed and many teachers and students are on summer break, the Wellness in the Schools team did not slow down. Between local community events in New York City, recipe development and CookCamp training across the country, our team was busy spreading the wellness word and preparing for a busy fall.

In NYC, partnered with Blackstone (link) and Break a Difference (link) to facilitate a volunteer day at PS463 in the Bronx. Our team worked together with volunteers from Blackstone to build a community garden in the corner of their playground. Students returned to school with a garden plot that spanned one city block. We look forward to working with the students this year to grow, harvest and eat the fruits (and vegetables) of their labor. While one team worked in the garden, another packed up donated supplies for our WITS Lab classes, which kick off next month. 

Meanwhile, at PS 85, also in the Bronx, the WITS team helped to fill over 700 backpacks of school supplies that will be given to students throughout the fall. We continued to spread wellness and nourishment at the Catholic Charities back-to-school event during the last week of August, serving over 200 cups of homemade Golden Granola to Catholic Charities partner schools, including PS 199, PS 70, and PS 463, all in the Bronx.

In Newark, New Jersey, WITS Chef Ricardo collaborated on a nutrition and self care presentation with a dietician from the Robert Wood Johnson / Kids FIT program during a staff professional development day.  Together, we engaged over 300 Newark food service staff. They made and sampled a Tuscan Kale Salad and took home produce and recipes.

Heading south in the garden state to Camden, New Jersey, WITS Chefs offered our CookCamp weekly on Fridays for a series of five summer workshops. In these special CookCamp training sessions, a total of 200 school nutrition leadership team members, school kitchen staff, and student culinary workers engaged in interactive sessions to hone their culinary skills and get ready for the children to return to test them out.

Continuing on that same highway to Washington, D.C., we taught our third annual bilingual summer CookCamp in August. WITS Chefs Louisa Foy and Ana Montañez traveled to DC to teach the Spanish speaking DC Bilingual cooks new recipes such as Chipotle Chicken Wraps; Broccoli and Red Pepper Salad; and Bibimbap. They also learned some kitchen best practices and self care tips to show up feeling their very best come fall.

Finally, we traveled west where WITS Chef Cait Olesky and National Program Director Marion Williams returned to San Rafael City Schools for our sixth year of summer CookCamp. Their 40-strong kitchen crew focused on recipe building – highlighting the progression from spice blend to dressing to marinade; as well as a fresh tomato sauce to marinara to bolognese. Jeannie, a San Rafael CookCamp veteran, especially loved the eggplant we made using the BBQ spice rub, which easily converts into pastes and marinades. “I never had eggplant before and I loved it. Thank you for always showing us something new.”

In Novato, CA, WITS Chef Cait worked with Food Service Director Cody Williams to host a harvest lunch as part of the administrative staff’s return-to-school professional development day, and gave a presentation about our history in the district. Thanks to the success of that event, Chef Cait was asked to return to Sinaloa Middle School two weeks later for a repeat performance.

During the longer days of summer and the quieter days in schools, cafeterias and kitchens, Wellness in the Schools can often find our very best kernels of teaching and learning. We find a slower paced atmosphere that is conducive to shared learning and often greater impact.