BUG TO SCHOOL: INSPIRING NEW GENERATIONS OF FARMERS AND LOCAL FOOD CONSUMERS THROUGH SERVICE LEARNING AND COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH IN SCHOOL GARDENS

Our long-term goals are to cultivate a generation of producers and consumers of locally grown, healthy produce, and to empower historically excluded students in agriculture-related STEM disciplines through collaborative garden-based research in their home communities. To achieve this, we propose the following objectives:1) Establish a multi-state collaborative school garden research network in middle/high schools across the Southeast; 2) Recruit 20 undergraduates per year from diverse backgrounds to facilitate school garden research within their home communities;3) Ignite curiosity in sustainable crop production, pest management, and insect food webs during an in-person, hands-on intensive 'bootcamp'; 4) Improve scientific literacy and analytical skills of both undergraduates and school-age students with large-scale collaborative, experiments.5) Empower undergraduates with skills in leadership, mentorship, resourcefulness, and communication through service-learning and collaborative curriculum development ?