SHS Teacher Maggie Favretti Recognized for Innovation in Environmental Education

SHS Social Studies Teacher Maggie Favretti has been invited to the White House on August 12th to receive an Honorable Mention for the Presidential Innovation in Environmental Education Award.

Favretti is receiving the award for her work on the Scarsdale High School Sustainable Garden Project designed to teach students the community values and individual benefits of sustainable living through sustainable food practices and community service.

Using the high school garden as an outdoor classroom, students learn by doing, gain familiarity with the natural world, and learn confident creativity through collaborative problem-solving. The project seeks to reduce poor nutrition in community food programs.

With an interdisciplinary curriculum, classes attend the garden for a number of activities: photography, drawing, architecture, sculpture, plant science, soil chemistry, nutrition, health, measurement, mathematical patterns, statistical prediction, world cultures, history, physical education and ecosystem farming are just a few.

On April 15, 2014 Favretti and the Garden Club held a conference on "Building Sustainable Communities through Backyard, School and Community Gardens" at SHS. The conference was a huge success with over 100 attendees. It resulted in the formation of the Gardens Against Hunger network and the group is currently building gardensagainsthunger.com, which will efficiently address most of the needs raised at the conference. They need donations for the web design, which will connect sustainable school and community gardens with small farms and food pantries. Anyone interested in supporting the project or being part of the network should call Favretti at 914-721-2567 or 914-462-2857.

As for Maggie, she is hopeful that her trip to the White House will include a tour of the famed White House Garden. Congratulations to Favretti and her team of gardeners.