Pacific Beach Elementary Receives Coveted USDA Farm to School Grant

Fifth- and sixth-grade students at Pacific Beach Elementary in the North Beach School District will soon be able to teach us a thing or two about growing good food. 

In conjunction with Schultz Farm and Millworks, Inc., the school received $313,211 through the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grant Program to launch the Farms for Schools Project. 

The two-year grant connects Schultz Farm with Pacific Beach Elementary and ESD 113's Child Nutrition Cooperative to bring local food and agricultural education into schools across the North Beach and Ocean Shores communities. This grant will fund cross-curricular learning that fulfills state standards across almost every school subject. 

Students in Jessica Vicente’s class have already gotten started. When Vicente saw the unused greenhouse, she knew it would be a perfect place to cultivate community and grow skills. 

“Regardless of whether we got the grant or not, she was still going to partner with Schultz Farm to do some of this work,” Principal Liz Cronin said.

In preparation for the project launch, students have worked to create the perfect soil ratios, calculate costs, source materials for new greenhouse beds, and grow seedlings. 

Once seedlings have matured, the plants will be moved to Schultz Farm in Seabrook to complete their growth. Students will visit the farm for additional lessons, including food safety. From there, the produce will be used in local schools, delivered to the food bank, and added to the little snack spot in front of Pacific Beach Elementary. 

 “It's giving them a sense of pride because they are going to be helping feed our community here at school and hopefully beyond school, too,” Cronin said.

The Ocean Shores community has helped make this project possible. The greenhouse doesn’t currently have power or water, so it’s been a labor of love for local volunteers and the school, who have been hauling water, soil, and equipment to the greenhouse. Most of the volunteers do not even have children in school anymore, Cronin shared, but continue to support new generations of Pacific Beach Falcons. 

That volunteer spirit mirrors what Cronin hopes students take away from the project. When this year's 5th graders become 6th graders, they will teach the next class how to grow, tend, and harvest—passing the work from one class to the next. 

The roots were already there, but Cronin, Vicente, and the students can’t wait to see this program blossom and grow with the support of  Schultz Farm, Millworks, Inc., ESD 113, and USDA. 

Learn more about the Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grant Program.