Students at Innovations Academy in Scripps Ranch showcased their fall projects for family and local community members back in December. One project that made a big impact was their cooking project. Middle school students volunteered at the Food Bank and felt inspired to do more to help hungry San Diegans.”After visiting and volunteering at the Food Bank, we decided that this was the project we wanted to donate our Empty Bowl Fundraiser proceeds to. We really liked how much they are doing to help fight hunger in our community,” said eighth grade student, Spencer Ryan, and sixth grader, Paige Hugelmaier.To prepare for the Empty Bowl Fundraiser, students went to Claytime Ceramics in Ocean Beach to design the donated ceramic bowls that were later auctioned off at Exhibition Night. They also featured the school’s Top Chefs (students who earlier participated in a school cook-off challenge) and prepared dishes to sell to people that evening. The night was a great success and students were able to donate two bins full of nonperishable food items and also collected $823 in monetary donations, which will provide 4,115 meals to hungry individuals and families. They were so inspired that they have decided to continue collecting food for the Food Bank and its hunger-relief programs for the remainder of the school year.”This is the meaningful learning that we believe is the pillar to preparing our students for the twenty-first century, where they will be expected to collaborate, communicate, and interface with challenging problems,” said Innovations Academy teacher, Beth Foster.
