Washburn students learning sustainability and getting noticed

Duluth News Tribune: When kids from the Washburn school district were picked to travel to the White House in April to help first lady Michelle Obama plant a South Lawn vegetable garden, it was a very big deal to the town of about 2,000 residents.

Then the group was asked to return.

Five students and two school employees leave today to join other students in helping Obama and celebrity chef Rachael Ray harvest and prepare food from the garden.

Washburn — among three districts picked to join two D.C. schools in the efforts — was chosen for its “robust” garden programs and its use of produce in its school cafeteria, said Deborah Kane, national director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm to School program.

School districts that aren’t on the national radar are among those sought, she said, and Washburn fit the bill: “A small town, not a very long growing season, but being super innovative using high tunnels, with some community partnerships in place,” Kane said.

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