Broad Street market to offer fresh food, learning opportunity
While Broad Street Elementary School students are gaining a new learning opportunity, the community is receiving a new option for fresh food.
The students have been working to stock shelves, track inventory and advertise the new Broad Street Fresh Market since its soft opening for teachers and other school staff on March 13. The in-school market started by selling items, including Nutrigrain Bars, popcorn, clementines, applesauce and more, and will eventually have produce grown by students at Summit Township Elementary School.
Vanessa Boyd, principal of Broad Street Elementary, said the two schools are creating educational programs that will help students gain skills early, and give the community a local place to shop.
“They are working on producing fresh veggies and possibly fruits, some of which can come to the markets and some will stay in community,” Boyd said. “The idea is convenience. There is a store, a fresh market, in a convenient location.”
Summit Elementary started a Community Agricultural Partnership last school year, thanks to a $70,000 Moonshot Grant from Remake Learning, allowing educators to plant seeds in order to teach gardening.
Since then, Summit school administrators have created new infrastructure, including an outdoor classroom, garden space and a greenhouse to promote agricultural education, and Broad Street has been preparing a market space to sell its produce. Boyd said so far, the market has mainly been staffed by special education students, but all grade levels will eventually take part in it, with fifth-graders to potentially produce promotional materials for it.
“We have some of our special education learners, who are helping to lead,” Boyd said. “They come down, restock, make sure everything is there; they lay out all of the items, and they have a spreadsheet where they can log it.”
Dave Andrews, instructional coach for student engagement in the Butler Area School District, said Summit Township Elementary is still growing produce to sell in the market, but another goal of the market is to promote healthy eating.
“They are getting open with very limited stock right now,” Andrews said. “We're trying to get kids more in with healthy snack choices.”
According to Boyd, the money generated through the market will go back to Butler Area School District. The market and the live demonstration classroom built at the school are meant for educational use, but their real-world uses will also give students real-world experience, Boyd said.
“Our dream is for our community to be able to come and shop for items, milk, healthy snacks, healthy drinks, and we would also like that space where we can host community meetings,” she said.
The market is currently open for the school community from 12:45 to 1:45 p.m. on Mondays and from 8:15 until 9:45 a.m. Thursdays. Boyd said students will work at the market prior to its opening by stocking shelves and tracking inventory, and after its hours of operation end, they will perform end-of-day duties.
Boyd also said the market will have its grand opening with an event on May 18, after which it will be open to everyone in the community.
Having a market where people can buy fresh produce grown locally and support students and the school district along the way could change Butler, Boyd said, and it could even change students’ lives by introducing them to agricultural opportunities.
“It's more than a market; it's a place where dreams will be made,” Boyd said. “We will make dreams, such as marketing, such as entrepreneurship, stocking and ultimately we are planting the seeds of farming.”
