Seed to salad: East Jordan's Shoe Club embarks on new project with fundraising efforts

EAST JORDAN — When East Jordan High School student Jayde Fazio heard of this year's East Jordan Shoe Club's annual project from founder and East Jordan High School social studies and video technology teacher Matt Hamilton, her interest was immediately sparked.

"I really like seeing improvements made within our schools and it's good and rewarding to see," Fazio said as the Shoe Club, which began in March of 2008, began fundraising for its "Seed to Salad" project to enhance the school district's elementary school garden. "I think projects like this are really necessary in creating a positive environment in schools.

"When I heard about the project from Mr. Hamilton it sounded like it encouraged a lot of hands-on learning and students would be learning about their physical health and emotional health and it was just all the things I was really passionate about."

On Monday, the East Jordan Middle School Shoe Club officially launched its fundraising campaign to raise $75,000 toward the project, which is set to break ground on Earth Day on April 22.

Hamilton said currently East Jordan Elementary School has a successful gardening program it offers students, which also allows for a hands-on learning environment where students can be in the garden, growing plants and learning in exciting ways.

However, the program can only be offered for a portion of the school year because of Michigan's climate and weather.

As a result, the Shoe Club came up with a plan to enhance the community garden to utilize the space more effectively throughout the year and improve it in other ways to make the space as valuable and efficient as possible.

"Every year we try to pick a project and we dream big, set goals, work hard and give back," Hamilton said. "Last year we had a big solar project that we did and we're building off the success of that and staying with the same theme of sustainability and environmental, as a result we came up with this garden program."

More: East Jordan students unveil new solar array on Earth Day

The Shoe Club's plans for the garden includes the following key components:

• Revitalizing an indoor growing space that is connected to the school

• Installing a hoop house that will serve as a larger and more cost-efficient growing space

• Installing two composting systems that will reduce food waste from the cafeterias in both the elementary and middle high schools

• Improving the outdoor garden area to better serve as an outdoor classroom. The importance of vegetables and healthy eating will be incorporated into the curriculum as well.

Mailey Hamilton, who serves as one of three high school mentors for the project along with Fazio and Elke Knauf, said as part of her responsibilities of working with the outdoor space a big component is also building fencing around the garden because of the ongoing issue of deer and other animals feeding from it.

"We want to prevent that with a fence and prevent other critters from coming in," Mailey Hamilton said. "We're also upgrading irrigation and getting new tools for the garden and another big component is integrating Anishinaabewomin culture into the garden. We have the East Jordan welding students welding different sculptures of plants and vegetables in the garden which will be accompanied with a name tag both in English and Anishinaabek."

Mailey Hamilton added the garden will also become a certified monarch waystation, meaning more pollinated plants in the garden will create a more friendly environment for butterflies and bees.

Matt Hamilton said the project is a student-led initiative which is incorporating around 20 middle school students. Through the project, students will gain valuable life skills including teamwork, patience, communication and presentation skills.

"The school garden will be an asset to every student and teacher, offering a place to get outdoors, connect with the natural world and explore new concepts through experiential learning," Hamilton said. "Students will continue to learn about indigenous gardening practices and food ways, and Anishinaabek plant names and usage through bilingual signage."

This year's project also has allowed the Shoe Club to collaborate with both adult and student mentors in order to allow the project to run smoothly. Adult mentors are Jen Lewis and Angela Barrera, who are involved with the current garden program.

Melissa Lyons will be representing the kitchen staff and helping with the composting and healthy eating aspect of the project, while Hope Heidman and Lauren Driscoll from Food Corps will also serve as project partners.

Now in its 14th year, the Shoe Club, started by Matt Hamilton, was inspired by listening to motivational speaker Mike Donahue. In order to become a member of the club, students must read the book "Value Up" and then write a short paper about what they learned from reading it. They must also write out 10 life goals and explain how they will accomplish each one.

After completing these steps, students can bring in a shoe for Mr. Hamilton to display in his classroom. The shoes hang as reminders to all his students about working hard, making good choices, not bullying others and walking in each other's shoes. The club meets regularly to discuss situations the kids encounter as well as participate in several volunteer projects.

The club has also been contacting people from around the world and has been collecting their shoes in Hamilton's classroom. Shoes from people such as Steven Spielberg, Michael Jordan, Tony Hawk, Jimmie Johnson, Sanya Richards-Ross, Martin Cooper, Charlie Duke, Shaun White, Arnold Palmer and Phil Knight are on display in the classroom.

The club is in the process now, according to Knauf, of promoting the project and getting the word out. To cover the project's costs, funds will come through various grants, presentations to local businesses, a "bowl-a-thon' and via a GoFundMe page.

"We've been presenting to different organizations and to our school board and last year we raised $70,000," Knauf said. "We've been working on getting our name out there and the people we've presented to are really excited about it."

Of the $75,000 funding needs, $25,000 will go toward a hoop house, $20,000 for an indoor growing space, $10,000 for a composting system for both schools and $20,000 for revitalizing the outdoor space.

For more information regarding the Seed to Salad program and for a link for the project's GoFundMe page, visit www.shoeclub.org/ej-seed-to-salad.

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: East Jordan students plan to revive community garden spot