“Everything here is, like, natural and most of the stuff we can take home,” said one student who said their dream was to become a chef and found learning about growing natural food incredibly helpful toward that goal. “It just kind of feels like you're connected with everything.” 

A hydroponic farm produces food in a controlled, soilless setting. A farm like this can be set up in various different ways, including in a classroom, but the result is the same — more connection and control to what is being produced.  

“The impact is immediate,” said Katherine Soll, co-founder of Teens for Food Justice. “You are planting these seeds. You're growing the food. Five weeks later, you're harvesting the produce, and you're consuming it.”  

Soll said this farm is so important to kids who can learn from doing, instead of just reading about it. Soll added that the farm gives students hands-on workforce development experience, too. The teachers involved say there is so much growth in this one classroom beyond the plants growing on the shelves. 

“[There is] magic and potential and friendship and of course, plants,” said Sarah Peterson, the science team lead with Bruce Randolph School. “It's a space that students get to grow all those things together and grow their relationships with us as their teachers and with each other. They get to ... make mistakes and learn how to be a part of a process that's bigger than them.”  

Each month this hydroponic farm at Bruce Randolph school is expected to produce nearly 1,000 pounds of fresh produce. All that food is either going to the kids in the class or in a tent outside of school where families can take some as they pick up their kids.