Growing Innovation with Tower Gardens

At Tomas High School, 9th-11th grade students in Ms. Harrington's Culinary Arts Program are exploring the wide world of sustainable food production, sparking creativity, innovation, and responsibility for the future of the food industry.

Thanks to Growing Innovation with Tower Gardens grant, these future culinary professionals are caring for fresh produce and harvesting it to produce original recipes, implementing strong farm-to-table instruction.

This isn’t your typical classroom… it’s a whole food production, from farm-to-table, in action!

Purpose & Impacts grant was designed with a clear intention:

For the Culinary Arts students at Tomas High School, the Growing Innovation with Tower Gardens grant inspired innovation by showing students how technology can transform traditional gardening practices. It played a key role in transforming classrooms into living labs - students were able to grow, harvest, and prepare their own food, all while learning how to conserve resources. With these grant-funded supplies, the students got hands-on experience beyond the kitchen in learning how innovation links culinary arts, sustainability, and agriculture.

The impact has been undeniable. The students gained valuable skills and knowledge in the fundamentals of hydroponic growing systems and plant care, all of which they were able to apply.

By following the Culinary Arts curriculum, students explored various sustainability concepts, water conservation, and alternative growing methods. The grant-funded resources created engaging learning opportunities that connected various areas, such as as science, agriculture, and culinary arts in meaningful ways.

The project also fostered more community involvement, making it beneficial for a variety of education programs and grade levels.

"This hands-on cycle transforms everyday lessons into authentic culinary experiences, encouraging creativity, problem-solving, and teamwork while highlighting the impact sustainability in food production," - Ms. Harrington

Student Growth, Not just Plant Growth

The success of the Growing Innovation with Tower Gardens goes to show that hands-on, innovative learning experience can help students grow in many unique ways, as highlighted by Ms. Harrington above. These students are also getting actively prepared for future careers in foodservice industries where sustainability is key. And experiences like this also support the school's overall mission and district improvement plan by enabling students with the skills to think critically, act responsibly, and apply sustainable practices within the culinary field.

A special thank you to our donor community for making grants like this possible!  If you would like to invest in public education and support our mission, please email our office at leaf@lcisd.org.