Gardening Apprenticeship Program Grows Healthy Diets for Latino Youth

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In November 2015, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy visited John C. Fremont High School’s Gardening Apprenticeship Program. The schools program encourages students to learn how to grow healthy foods and utilize the foods towards cooking healthy dishes. The program supports healthy initiatives in Latino inner city neighborhoods like Los Angeles (48.4% Latino) that are less likely to have access to fresh foods and are dealing with high rates of childhood obesity.

Students involved in the 12-week after-school gardening apprenticeship program learn to grow food and cook healthy dishes. The students enjoy a 1.5-acre site that holds the students fresh vegetables like, potatoes, peas and beets.

Many of the students enjoy trying the new foods and learning about new vegetables they had never seen. Elizabeth Castro said in a recent article, “Many things that I experienced here, I had never experienced before.” Castro also stated that she had taken samples home to let her family try her fresh picked garden goods and that having this type of garden at school helps her have a different range of food with more choices.

Studies show that Latino kids are less likely to have healthy foods advertised to them, and have less access to healthier foods. Schools can help take part in growing healthy changes for Latino kids diets, find out how here.