The Montpelier High School Center for Sustainable Systems (MHS CSS) will be a year-round service learning based educational program that uses the food system as a vehicle to teach sustainability across the curriculum. Through creative programming and scheduling, the MHS CSS will serve students embarked on multiple pathways. The experiential service learning will provide rigor and relevance for students of all abilities. Stand-alone programming will be available for students on alternative, independent or home-schooled paths. The center will also provide opportunities for teachers of all disciplines to bring their classes for lessons and/or units at a satellite campus.

Interdependence is a characteristic of any sustainable system. By partnering with two area non-profit organizations that work to feed the hungry and train the impoverished to provide for themselves, we will better serve our target populations. The nonprofit provides a direct connection to a vulnerable part of our community that will be a natural recipient, now and a generation from now, of the service learning experienced by the school students.

A sustainable system meets the environmental, economic, and social needs of the present generation, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. By creating the means for students to engage in the process of building a sustainable food system, we are providing for them the opportunity to develop a wide-range of skills, in context. Instead of simply applying acquired knowledge, our students will acquire knowledge while they apply themselves to the needs of their community. Like the needs of a garden in any given season, life is a moving target. Successful cultivation requires flexibility, compassion, a diverse skill set, and a lot of hard work. The MHS Center for Sustainable Systems aims to provide just that for all of our students.

The Center for Sustainable Systems (CSS) was incorporated in January 2012 and received its non-profit status May 2012. Through an annual professional development course offered through Saint Michael’s College, CSS has trained over 30 teachers from 7 different Central Vermont schools. As a result, hundreds of students have been engaged through food-system connections in disciplines ranging from Biology, Chemistry, and Physics, to World History, Economics, Algebra, and Spanish. Products from the school gardens and micro-businesses include: bread made from wheat grown on school property, popcorn, biochar (fertilizer), hot sauce, and numerous fruits and vegetables that are served at school cafeterias.

A program entitled “Food, Farm, and Society” maintains school gardens during the summer months. Students from Central Vermont high schools are awarded academic credit and $9.00/hour for the work that goes beyond the learning experience.

More information about the CSS can be found at: www.cssvt.org