Five pupils from Kemper Elementary in Cortez have been invited back to Washington, D.C., for an early harvest of the White House Kitchen Garden with first lady Michelle Obama.
Miles Frost, Gael Garcia, Christian Rebaza, Trenity Tillahash and Cecelia Thom, along with chaperones Danyel Mezzanatto and Patrick Alford, traveled to the nation’s capital in April to help plant the garden. Monday, they’ll return with chaperones Mezzanatto and Kelli Meeker to help the first lady harvest items from the garden and prepare a meal with them.
The students will travel as part of the Montezuma School to Farm Project. Celebrity chefs Rachael Ray and Frankie Celenza also will join Obama and the students during the meal prep.
“The opportunity for these students to return to The White House and participate in a harvest and preparation of a meal brings the experience full circle,” School to Farm Director Zoë Nelsen stated in a press release. “These students will have a closer connection to the food they eat because of their participation in planting earlier in the spring.”
Students from school garden programs in Wisconsin, Louisiana and Washington, D.C., also will join in the event.
Many students in Montezuma County will have similar experiences when they return to school in the fall and harvest, prepare and eat what they planted in school gardens in the spring, Nelsen said.
More information is available at www.montezumaschooltofarm.org. The event will be live-streamed on www.whitehouse.gov/live.
