On the road that leads from the farm to the tray, we encounter many folks along the way who contribute to feeding our kids. Who’s Feeding Our Kids is a series in which we explore people and organizations within the food system who are working to feed our kids and support the 10 Cents a Meal program.
This story features Shirley Brezzell, 5th Grade science and social studies teacher and manager of the Mackenzie School Garden. Mackenzie is an elementary-middle school located within the Detroit Public Schools Community District.
At Home in the Garden
I remember playing in the backyard with my siblings all summer long as our mother tended her garden. Every summer, we were tasked with helping to till a sizable plot in the backyard so that our mother could grow food for the season. I remember walking barefoot through the yard to the plot to pick tomatoes and cucumbers in the mornings, and I can still hear the soft thud of the vegetables hitting the stainless steel mixing bowl we’d use to harvest.
As an educator, my mother turned every experience into a learning moment, so it’s no surprise to me that even when we thought we were just playing in the backyard, my mother was actually teaching us lessons that would stand to impact the rest of our lives. Deep care and dedication are two major necessities for strong gardens and young minds to grow. A few years ago when my mother called to tell me she would be re-establishing a garden at her school, I knew she would be the perfect person for the job.
Planting trees at Detroit’s Mackenzie School Garden.
Building the Outdoor Classroom
Shirley Brezzell has been working in education for over 30 years. For the last seven, she has been teaching for Detroit Public Schools Community District, and is now in her third year teaching 5th grade science and social studies for Mackenzie Elementary-Middle School. As an extension of the work she is doing in the indoor classroom, Mrs. Brezzell has been developing and maintaining an outdoor classroom and garden with her students. “The curriculum called for my students to learn about nature in ways they simply didn’t have access to,” said Brezzell.
Three years ago, when the science curriculum called for students to observe plant growth, mammals, and other environmental topics, Mrs. Brezzell noticed the lack of outdoor space, trees, and natural infrastructure around the school. This prevented the students from experiencing and documenting nature in real time. With this in mind, she set out on a mission. “My plan has been to create a series of outside learning spaces, (outdoor classrooms) to be utilized by the entire Mackenzie PreK to 8th grade community,” Brezzell said. So, it started with trees. Mrs. Brezzell coordinated the planting of 65 trees across the school’s campus with support of The Greening of Detroit and American Forests. She then joined the Teaching Science Outdoors cohort through Michigan State University, and in doing so, was introduced to a grant that would later help to re-build the school garden and coordinate curriculum with the outdoor environment.
“As we progressed through the curriculum, I learned that my students had limited information about the nutritional needs of their bodies,” said Brezzell. This opened the door for more discussions on fresh fruits and vegetables and where they come from. In doing this, she discovered that many of her students do not have reliable access to fresh local fruits and vegetables unless it is coming from the lunch counter through 10 Cents a Meal. Detroit Public Schools Community District is the largest 10 Cents a Meal grantee, serving nearly 10 million meals a year based on the most recent Michigan Department of Education data for 2022-2023. As a 10 Cents a Meal grantee, the district receives reimbursements for Michigan-grown fruits and vegetables it purchases and grows for USDA Child Nutrition programs. The garden education programming that Mrs. Brezzell implements with her students supports the nutrition and food education requirements of the 10 Cents a Meal program.
Working with the students and a team of dedicated FoodCorps members, Mrs. Bezzell designed and coordinated the development of 10 garden beds, a sensory garden, a hoop house, and an irrigation system. The 5th grade science curriculum has two units focused on the discovery of molecules through understanding the structures of fruits and vegetables, and the role water plays in the health of our plants, bodies, and planets. “The students had the opportunity to design the irrigation station, choose what vegetables they wanted to grow, start the seeds, and get them going in the gardens so they could observe and eat them,” said Brezzell.
The Impact of Garden Education and Nutrition
Because school is out through the summer, Mrs. Brezzell had to plan for what to do with the garden while students were away. She planted and sent home a “Garden in a Bag” to each of the 90 5th grade students in her class and those in her colleagues’ classrooms. Students picked from a variety of vegetables, and were then tasked with caring for their plants in the summer, harvesting veggies for their families, and reporting on their home garden projects when school started again in the fall. “During the summer, the rest of the veggies were harvested and distributed to the Mackenzie Community,” she said. When students return in the fall, they harvest and cook fall vegetables, bringing everything full circle. “This has become a cycle, we plant, harvest and enjoy. My students learn skills in the garden and the indoor classroom that they use in their daily lives. It’s a win-win.” She notes that her students are more open to eating fresh food and are excited to teach their siblings and guardians about the process.
Another big win has been the ongoing support from the principal and other teachers at the school. Having a network of support available is a key factor in the success of a school garden. In 2023, Detroit Public Schools Community District reported over 82 gardens being activated across the city.
School garden education is a critical component in a well-rounded education. With Michigan’s agricultural sector making up roughly $104.7 billion of the state’s revenue, getting our state’s youngest residents outside stands to build foundations that will keep the state moving forward. Investing in our children with this kind of education helps to establish relationships with fresh food and the natural outdoor environment. This also supports the building of relationships with fresh local food and learning where it comes from. In doing so, students are exposed to small businesses, family-owned farms, and the systems that transport food around the state, giving them the opportunity to learn what it means to support the local economy.
DPSCD is also home to Charles R. Drew Transition Center, which sits just across the street from Mackenzie. Here, young adults with unique needs learn to thrive and prepare for the future. They have access to several career and education tracks, which include garden- and farm-based learning. Programs like these help build career pipelines for Michigan’s aging agricultural sector, making a strong investment in the future of food in this state.
Looking Towards the Future
“I’m finding most teachers are willing to try outdoor learning, but need direction,” says Brezzell. Due to this, she is in the process of writing a workshop teaching educators how to convert a lesson for outdoors. “Currently, the outdoor program ends with the 5th grade, and the addition of the new outdoor space and curriculum for every grade level means that everyone can enjoy the outdoor learning space,” she says. Mrs. Brezzell is at the end of this phase of her career and plans to retire at the end of the 26-27 school year. Before leaving, she has a few more enhancements she wants for her students. These include completing the micro-forest and walking path through the pollinator garden, an exercise track, and the expansion of the Mackenzie Green Schoolyard.
The relationship to food that my siblings and I now have as food systems advocates and urban farmers can be traced directly to our first lessons in our mother’s garden. When I visited my mother to interview her for this piece, I watched as she spent time in her backyard garden with her grandson. It brought back memories from picking cucumbers off the vine with my toes in the grass. When my mother retires soon, and leaves her truly indelible impact, she will come home to carry on a legacy of teaching our little ones in the garden.
More teachers across the state are engaging with students indoors and outdoors in meaningful and deeply impactful ways, just like my mother. Understanding the list of benefits that outdoor time and fresh food bring to young minds, each of them has worked to develop something to get students active outdoors. Whether it’s adding trees to the perimeter to welcome birds or refurbishing a school’s forgotten garden program, they show up every day to give students skills that will last them a lifetime. As we move into a new era of education and funding for schools, it’s important that our decision makers understand the impacts of fresh food and food education on the health and future of this great state. It is also important that they reflect in their decisions an emphasis on supporting a well-rounded education for every student.
Take Action
Since the program’s beginning in 2016, the 10 Cents a Meal for Michigan’s Kids and Farms program has grown and produced quite an impact on Michigan’s children and agricultural economy. This year, the Michigan House drafted a School Aid Budget Bill that removes 10 Cents a Meal, Healthy School Meals, and other critical food support resources from the budget. It is important that our decision makers know just how crucial programs like these are for our children. To share a letter of support with your legislator, please visit here. 
10 Cents a Meal Policy and Engagement Specialist Amanda Brezzell writes from their hometown of Detroit, Michigan, where they support the 10 Cents a Meal Program through Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities, outreach and communications partner on the 10 Cents a Meal implementation team.
amanda.brezzell@groundworkcenter.org
