The South Carolina Department of Education is pleased to announce the creation of the School Garden and Education Instruction Assistance Program, administered by Clemson Extension’s School Gardening for South Carolina Educators. Clemson Extension offers the School Gardening program through a partnership with the College of Charleston’s Food Systems Change Initiative with funding provided by Boeing South Carolina.

The goal of the program is to introduce children to hands-on agriculture and nutrition education as well as encourage public schools to use locally grown South Carolina produce in their school menus. The effort will support better health outcomes for children and economic opportunities for our local farmers.

After completing a competitive application process, representatives from the 20-awarded schools were required to participate in both online and hands-on training sessions before receiving an all-inclusive gardening kit, The Garden STEM curriculum, and other materials used to grow their own vegetables at their schools.

Congratulations to the 2019 School Garden and Education Instruction Awardees:

School	District
Hilton Head Elementary School IB	Beaufort
Meadowfield Elementary School	Richland 1
H.E. Bonner Elementary School	Berkeley
St. Anthony of Padua Catholic School	Diocese of Charleston
McCormick High School	McCormick
Lake Carolina Elementary Upper	Richland 2
Mt. Zion Elementary School	Charleston
Saluda Middle School	Saluda
Elloree Elementary/Middle School	Orangeburg 3
Blue Ridge Elementary School	Oconee
Bamberg-Ehrhardt Middle School	Bamberg 1
Pacolet Elementary School	Spartenburg 3
Cooley-Springs Fingerville Elementary School	Spartanburg 2
Satchel Ford Elementary School	Richland 1
Wallace Elementary Middle School	Marlboro
Latta High School	Dillon 3
Manning Early Childhood Center	Clarendon 2
Forest heights Elementary School	Richland 1
Ridge Spring-Monetta High School	Aiken
Edisto Elementary School	Orangeburg 4