Academy For Global Citizenship Celebrates Earth Day With Seed-To-Sell Schoolyard Gardening Program

CHICAGO - April 2, 2013 - PRLog -- Chicago, IL - This Earth Day, schools and communities across the country are doing their part to make the planet a cleaner, healthier place. The Academy for Global Citizenship (AGC), an innovative Chicago Public Charter School located in the underserved southwest side of the city, celebrates Earth Day this year by empowering students through an innovative gardening and nutrition program. With help from a generous donation from Chicago’s organic sandwich makers, Hannah’s Bretzel, AGC will use its greenhouse and indoor gardens as unique curricular vehicles, teaching students about sustainable gardening and inspiring them to make healthy, organic choices throughout the year.

“Our mission is to empower students to positively impact their community and the world beyond, not just on Earth Day, but every day,” says Sarah Elizabeth Ippel, founder and director for the Academy of Global Citizenship. “We prepare students to be environmentally and internationally minded by examining how their choices impact their community and the world.”

This Earth Day, the Academy for Global Citizenship is working to cultivate healthy habits at a young age with a schoolyard garden and related programming. Students will oversee the design, planting and harvest of the 36 large raised beds in the school’s greenhouse and will then sell the produce to local restaurants at weekly summer farmers’ markets. The “seed-to-sell” schoolyard garden curriculum not only promotes environmental awareness, but healthy eating, too.

“Students become more interested in eating different fruits and vegetables after they have grown, observed, touched, smelled, harvested and prepared them,” says Sarah Elizabeth Ippel. “This sense of ownership cultivates their curiosity and inspires them to be more mindful of the food choices they make.”

AGC’s gardening program was made possible in large part due to the support of their long-standing partnership with Hannah’s Bretzel. Since 2008, Hannah’s has been a proud supporter of the school, donating time and resources annually to help support AGC's organic food program, wellness education and innovative nutrition initiatives. The garden program, one of several AGC initiatives Hannah’s Bretzel helps fund, is also accompanied by a narrative about the farm-to-table process, health and nutrition and encourages students to make fresh, organic, scratch-made foods a priority.

In addition to supporting the gardening program, this Earth Day, Hannah's Bretzel will donate 25 percent of revenue on April 22 from all five Hannah’s Bretzel locations and from all catering orders to further support the Academy for Global Citizenship’s nutrition and gardening efforts.

“Health is not only limited to food intake, but it’s also how we interact with the community,” says Hannah’s Bretzel founder, Florian Pfahler. “For us, there are two parts to the equation: serving healthy food and playing a role in encouraging consumers to engage in health and wellness and be more responsible to the environment.”

An AGC education also extends beyond the garden. Organic, nutritionally balanced meals, daily yoga, wellness instruction and ecologically sustainable practices throughout the school encourage learners to develop healthy and sustainable lifestyles for themselves. Ultimately, the Academy for Global Citizenship engages the whole child in an enriching educational community focused on fostering academic excellence, international awareness and environmental stewardship.

For more information on the Academy for Global Citizenship visit: http://agcchicago.org. For more information on Hannah’s Bretzel, visit: http://www.hannahsbretzel.com/.