For more than three years, Veggies-to-Table, a grow-to-donate organic farm in Newcastle, has worked with students from Lincoln Academy’s IDEAL program in a win-win collaboration. 

IDEAL stands for Innovatively Designed Education for All Learners and is a program designed to help non-traditional learners thrive. One of the most important components of the program is service-based learning. Program director Janna Civittolo reports that it plays a vital role in their education, with “all of our 9th and 10th graders spending their mornings off-campus volunteering to help them connect to their community by giving back while gaining on-the-job skills.”

Veggies to Table is one of the local organizations which hosts the IDEAL students, with great success. Learning takes place on many levels: social/emotional, intellectual, skill-building, and more.  Civittolo says that this opportunity to work and learn at Veggies to Table has enabled students to “deepen their sense of community and belonging by giving back and feeling good about themselves.  They learn how to communicate on a job or volunteer site and how to behave appropriately in community-based settings.”   

They also learn no-till farming practices, planting, harvesting and see how a not-for-profit organization can help their community with their aid. This involves both “hard and soft skills,” Civittolo adds. The first covers a range of farming tasks, from planting and harvesting to weeding and chicken feeding. The second includes skills that can be applied to many other areas of life and work, too, like “teamwork, planning, communicating, listening, work ethic, and self-knowledge.”   

Important as these learning outcomes are, the benefits of this partnership run even deeper. In addition to “trying out what it’s like to be a farmer and explore whether that’s a viable career option,” Civittolo says, “They witness what it takes to run such an operation and be part of an organization that provides so much for our community.  It is important for them to be exposed to good examples of people in our community like Erica [Erica Berman, co-founder and executive director of Veggies to Table] who are working to make the world a better place.  It is inspiring to all.”  

Civittolo adds, “In our current society, which emphasizes instant gratification and individualism, it can be difficult to motivate students to persevere and get the job done when a particular farm task is challenging or less interesting than others.” But thanks to their experiences at Veggies to Table, she says, “IDEAL students come to recognize that it is more than just themselves they are accountable for, but our community, too. They learn to see the bigger picture and realize that they are part of something greater; that they, too, can be part of the greater good.”  

The newest skill-building project the students will embark on at Veggies to Table is taking place this winter, when they build tables for the new greenhouses that is going up.   

To learn more about Veggies to Table, visit https://www.veggiestotable.org/