Inside our schools: Purple beans a hit at Harvest Festival

Trent Elementary fifth-grade student Courtney Camyn eagerly tried some star fruit.

Her classmate, Kaitlin Perkins, sniffed first before tasting the unusual treat.

A greater challenge came when a Charlie’s Produce staff member asked the fifth-grade class to dare another new flavor during their school’s Harvest Festival.

“Anyone want to try a purple green bean?”

“OK,” said a few with raised hands.

“It’s awesome,” reported Perkins. “I like purple green beans.”

Perkins had never tasted this veggie before, thus one of the reasons for Trent’s Harvest Festival held last week. Funded through the school’s fresh fruits and vegetables grant, the festival is aimed at raising children and families’ awareness about the nutrition and variety found in fresh produce.

During the day, classes took shifts touring booths inside the school’s gym where samples were provided by produce businesses, the Washington State University Extension Food Sense program and East Valley High School students.

Trent students voted for their favorite apple variety and tasted pumpkin pudding using a graham cracker as a spoon, among other treats.

“We’re one of only 25 schools in the entire state lucky enough to receive this grant and you have to reapply each year,” said Trent Elementary Librarian Pam Jamison, the program coordinator. The grant is provided to schools with high rates of free and reduced hot lunches and allows Trent to give daily snacks of fruits and vegetables to students.

The Harvest Festival is also designed to expand students’ minds about how tasty produce can be, Jamison added. “Charlie’s Produce lets them taste unusual fruits and vegetables and they talk about how they grow and where they grow.”

At another table, EVHS student Shawn Crowley handed out cups of apple cider.

“The kids always beg for seconds and thirds,” he said.

Nearby, Wendy Aguilar with the WSU Food Sense program, guided students to a display showing glow-in-the-dark lettering inside a black box.

“They get to peer in and it explains how Vitamin A helps your eyesight,” said Aguilar, who also offered the pumpkin pudding samples. “The older kids like to look at the graphs of the different fruits and the vitamins they contain.”

Kindergarten teacher Janet Anselmo led her class through the display, urging her students to try the samples.

“It’s good with graham crackers,” Anselmo said. “It tastes like pumpkin pie. You’re missing out if you don’t try it.”

Kids should be educated about healthy fresh foods and request them as snacks and in lunches, said Archie Deutsch, a Charlie’s Produce sales representative. He handed out produce samples to students.

“We’re trying to get them to try new foods that are good for them,” said Deutsch, who added that the expense of some produce items is sometimes a reason kids don’t get exposed to more fresh foods. “It’s more to educate them. Instead of chips, buy some sweet red peppers and slice them up. They can go in a Ziploc just as easy.”

New swing set at CV Kindergarten Center

Children at the Central Valley Kindergarten Center have a reason to celebrate.

A new swing set adorns a playground behind the center, thanks to volunteers and a donation from Greenstone Homes. The four-swing set cost about $1,400, and a Greenstone representative and workers with Northwest Fence provided volunteer labor to install it this month.

Teachers, students and Central Valley staff held a dedication ceremony last week with balloons, ribbon-cutting, cookies and hot chocolate. Among those thanked were Parent-Teacher Organization president Kelsy McHenry, who had sought community support, as well as Able DeLaRosa, who works at Greenstone, and his wife, Stephanie DeLaRosa. Their son, A.J., is a CV center student and another son, Mathias, attended last year.

The kindergarten center, which was formerly an alternative high school, needed a swing set for children, said McHenry.

“I thought it is the kind of thing we have the opportunity to reach out to the business community and ask for help because we’re small and just starting out,” McHenry said. “Because Greenstone is involved with the Riverwalk Homes in Greenacres (and) they’re going to have kids living across the street playing here, it seemed like the perfect fit.”

Adams students will be gathering blankets

Students at Adams Elementary will hold a week-long blanket drive in early November to support two area charities.

Adams will kick off the “Covering Our Community” Blanket Drive with an assembly Friday highlighting speakers who will explain how the donations will help children and families. Students will then collect new and gently used baby blankets and regular sized blankets for giving to The Donation Station, which provides items for foster children and adoptive families, and to The Safe Harbor House, which offers shelter, guidance transportation, life management training and support for expectant mothers.

Adams students and parents will wrap up the collection by taking donations on Nov. 10 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Yoke’s Fresh Market on Sprague in the Spokane Valley.

Clarks Cleaners and Careful Cleaners have agreed to clean all gently used blankets collected, said Liz Lee, Adams PTSA President.