Changing the world, one school and one kid at a time

I 've met Doris Hamm only once, but she's already one of my heroes. She started something here in Joliet that's going to change the world, one school and one kid at a time.

Hamm is a teacher's assistant at Joliet's Hufford Junior High School in Darren Raichart's Life Skills class for cognitively challenged students. She is the architect of a truly extraordinary project: a vegetable garden in Hufford's courtyard run by her Life Skills students, who have fun getting dirty and learning hands-on gardening techniques, food preparation and cooking skills, and practical lessons in science, math and economics.

Hamm likens this sustainable learning process to fishing. "It's like the old Bible story goes," she told me. "If you give someone a fish, you feed them for a day. If you teach them to fish, you feed them for a lifetime."

Her students are eating it up. During my visit last week to Hufford's Life Skills classroom, the kids eagerly showed me pictures of their garden and told me about their experiences. Some struggled merely to say their names, but their enthusiasm and knowledge about their garden was nothing short of phenomenal.

Late last spring, Hamm and her charges sowed $28 worth of vegetable seedlings. Their diverse array of crops included green beans, peas, tomatoes, broccoli, collard greens, cucumbers, peppers, onions, cabbage and zucchini.

The kids tended their garden through the summer growing season by watering, pulling weeds and harvesting food. Later, they used their vegetables in recipes and froze their excess bounty. Come this Thanksgiving, they'll cook a feast made from organic produce that they grew.

Most amazingly, the Life Skills students ran three farmer's markets in the hallways of Hufford this fall. Strategically timed for payday, the markets proved a huge hit among faculty and staff, and made more than $300 collectively -- a stunning 980 percent return on their initial investment. Green venture capitalists, take note!

This success has stoked great plans for next spring. Hamm and her student-gardeners hope to significantly expand their courtyard plot, dedicate part of their harvest to local charities, expand their farmer's market operation, consider ways to supply the school cafeteria with fresh in-season vegetables and include many more students in this incredible hands-on learning experience.

Based on what I've seen so far, I know they'll make it happen. After all, they're not just learning to plant seeds or pull weeds. They're gardening for life.

E-mail Mike Bryson of Joliet at mbry22@sbcglobal.net. Learn about the Illinois Nutrition Education and Training Program at www.kidseatwell.org.