BOISE, Idaho — We're going to the Boise Urban Garden School this week to meet our innovative educator.
Education, sustainability, community and growth are the values at "BUGS."
Teachers serve about 10,000 kids at the school every year.
The Boise Urban Garden School called "BUGS" for short -- is for everyone.
“We are all about reaching students, families, community," said Pohley Richey, BUGS culinary instructor.
The main focus though is kids.
"It's super-duper fun and I feel like I'm helping to hopefully invigorate these kids, hopefully empower, and teach them some good life skills they can use for the rest of their lives," said Richey.
She teaches cooking classes where the students make simple dishes.
"Right now, we're making our favorite foods from scratch," said Mia, a student.
"We're making ketchup, SpaghettiOs, granola bars, and other things that are healthy for you to eat," said Aislyn.
"All of the ingredients we used are from the BUGS garden," said Stella.
Richey, who is also a registered dietician, says it is important kids learn where their food is coming from and see it through to the end.
"We teach them about health, via the garden,” Richey said. “We offer lots of gardening classes and soil classes. We really talk about, stress the importance of healthy soil because that's going to produce healthier plants, which will produce food with more nutrients in it. So really health from the ground up, and cooking classes are just a part of that. Cooking classes, we like to take it full circle from the garden to the table."
She says healthy cooking is a lifelong skill and unfortunately "a lot of cooking skills are being lost."
So, providing this opportunity to the community is something that gives Richey a lot of pride.
“I'm really excited to be able to show kids how great it can be to work with food and produce, something that's not only beautiful but it's healthy and delicious and really empowers kids to take control of their own health."
And the best part?
"I like to learn about things I can make," said Stella.
They're having a great time doing it.
"It's been really fun to do this cause I love cooking," said Mia.
"I love to see those light bulb moments," said Richey.
Pohley Richey is this week's Innovative Educator.
The Boise Urban Garden is a nonprofit.
If you have an educator you would like to nominate for being innovative or amazing, email us at innovativeeducator@ktvb.com.
Watch more 'Innovative Educator'
See them all in our YouTube playlist here: