Reading in Action Grant 2019

The Reading in Action Grant was a collaboration between the Agriculture and Sustainability Class and the Agriculture Class of the Veritas Academy. Teachers Vittoria Venuti and Hal Eisenberg, MSW collaborated with Ms. Yip, agriculture teacher, Ms. DiMarco, Living Environment teacher, and Ms. Bayer, School Librarian to work on creating a green environment at Veritas Academy and Flushing High School. Students learned about horticulture and sustainability and created a project to reduce the amount of food waste on our campus.

1. Students learned how to care for a hydroponics garden system. The vegetables were donated to Share the Project, benefiting homeless people.
2. Students learned gardening skills and using the scientific method, they learned from their mistakes and improved their techniques.
3. They researched famous student activists and created their own research based projects to improve the lives of the Veritas students.
4. Students built a composter and began to teach the student population about the benefits of composting.
5. They created a vermi composter station (worm compost station) in their classroom and are observing how worms create compost.
6. Students led a workshop at the Teen Activism Conference held at the Museum of the City of New York and are currently interviewing students for next year’s class to continue their gardening efforts.
7. Students led a workshop at the Dream Out Loud Youth Conference held at St. John's University.

Email: ebayer@schools.nyc.gov
Website: http://tinyurl.com/goy6bub
Location: 3501 Union Street, Flushing, NY 11354
Phone: (718)888-7500
Twitter: @readingbeaver