What is the Technology Enabled Agriculture or TEA School Food Forest at Broward County Public Schools (BCPS)? Funded through The Frederick A. DeLuca Foundation, and in partnership with Broward Education Foundation and BCPS STEM+CS, the Broward TEA School Food Forest is an in-depth model to educate students, teachers and their communities on how and why they can sustainably grow edible food together in their neighborhoods. Integrating schoolyard edible gardening in classrooms, cafeterias and afterschool programs, the Broward TEA School Food Forest also incorporates exciting technology used in the agriculture industry, such as drones, sensors, artificial intelligence, and digital data collection and collaboration.
Students engage in real-world, culturally relevant STEM project-based learning opportunities to create environmentally sustainable solutions to environmental challenges utilizing a range of technological innovations to monitor gardens, cultivation, and harvesting in their school and communities.
Broward Education Foundation wishes to thank the Miami-Dade Food Forest Team for its guidance in developing Broward’s TEA School Food Forest.
The Broward TEA School Food Forest is facilitated by veteran educators Elaine Fiore and Adrian Carter.
Prior to her position with the Broward TEA School Food Forest, Elaine Fiore served as Beachside Montessori Village’s magnet coordinator and sustainability teacher. While there, she created the BCPS Food Recovery Program to reduce cafeteria food waste and led the school to receive the U.S. Department of Education’s Green School Award. This program has been replicated in schools across Florida. In addition, she founded Florida Food Waste Awareness Week and collaborates with organizations around the state to shine a light on this important issue. Elaine is excited to implement and monitor Broward TEA School Food Forest plans as she helps facilitate sustainability within Broward County Public Schools.
Former Cross Creek School Horticulture teacher Adrian Carter is ready to train and support schools as they create their TEA School Food Forest. Utilizing her master’s degree in Landscape Architecture to enlighten Cross Creek students, she also served as the facilitator of Broward Education Foundation’s Garden Delights – a forerunner of the Broward TEA School Food Forest- where she was responsible for implementing and monitoring the success of that program. Adrian is thrilled to use her expertise in training and support to grow Broward TEA School Food Forest in schools throughout the district.Contributing to healthier eating patterns for children and their families as well as improving students’ academic achievement are the ultimate objectives of developing sustainable Broward TEA School Food Forest.
Updates:
2022-2023 End of the Year Update (click to download)
October 2021: Conducted our first teacher workshop – Food Forest I at MODS. It was incredible. Our goal was to leave the teachers feeling inspired and equipped with tools and resources to get started. Mission accomplished. See photos below.
