sweetgreen in schools sweetlife fieldtrip

May 16, 2011

If you were at The Sweetlife Festival, you may have wondered what the adorable group of kids was doing running around Meriweather Post Pavilion. Sweetgreen invited the third graders of Cleveland Elementary to come to the Festival for a special field trip as the culmination of the sweetgreen in school series. Throughout the semester, the students learned key messages about nutrition, health, and “where food comes from” through hands-on activities tied to educational standards.

We arrived at the Sweetlife Festival with the kids in a big, yellow school bus. The kids enjoyed a great day of food, play and activation. The tour first stopped at OPOWER where the kids had a hula hoop competition, heard about energy efficiency, and got goodie bags filled with environmentally friendly items, such as beach balls, Frisbees, and glow sticks. We then stopped at Applegate where the kids painted their artistic designs on the Canvas Wall.

It was then lunchtime! The kids sat at the picnic tables and enjoyed a delicious and wholesome lunch of Applegate hot dogs. The tour then made its way over to Honest Tea, where the kids quenched their thirsts with a variety of refreshing flavors. There, they threw on hats, grabbed props, and held up signs to take a fun picture. Instead of saying “cheese” when smiling for the photos, the kids said “kale” (the vegetable that had been their favorite throughout the semester). Next, we stopped at the sweetgreen Farmers’ Market Stall showcasing spinach, radishes, arugula, asparagus, strawberries, golden tomatoes, and mint. We had a talk about how these fruits and vegetables are in season now (the kids had learned about eating seasonally with the “Eat with the Seasons” lesson plan earlier in the semester). We also talked about how these fruits and vegetables are good for their bodies and can help them grow strong and give them energy. The tour finished with a stop at Sweetflow Mobile where the kids ate some yummy yogurt and then headed back to the school bus.

It was incredible to see the enthusiasm and interest from the kids at The Sweetlife Festival and throughout the semester. The first run of sweetgreen in schools this semester has been a great success and an extremely rewarding experience on both sides of the partnership. It has been a pleasure to get to work with such a great group of kids and faculty – we were thrilled to have them at The Sweetlife Festival and we are excited for the future of sweetgreen in schools!