On February 13th, the 8th grade Culinary students from Hardee Junior High School visited Center Hill Farm in Bowling Green where they had a chance to learn a little about growing strawberries here in Florida. Following a brief introduction on how to properly pick strawberries and some additional strawberry facts, students were able to enter the strawberry fields and harvest some sweet berries. The field trip allowed students to do some hands-on learning activities outside of the classroom. The field trip was planned to yield a good harvest of strawberries for some culinary projects. Their first project was making about seventy small boxes of chocolate-covered strawberries for the faculty and staff at Hilltop Elementary School. The principal of Hilltop Elementary School, Beverly Cornelius, reached out to Micah Myers, the HJH Culinary teacher, about this project, wanting to surprise her teachers with a Valentine's Day treat. From there, the students went on to make strawberry freezer jam. Myers said, "They got to try it in class on biscuits and they also got to each take home their own jar." They also made delicious fresh-squeezed strawberry lemonade. Some of the berries were frozen to use the following week to make strawberry puree for a fun version of strawberry shortcake with yellow cupcakes, vanilla ice cream, strawberry puree, and whipped cream. The final strawberry project was fruit and spinach smoothies. The field trip provided culinary students the opportunity to learn new skills at the producer level and then use their culinary skills to create recipes using their delicious freshly picked strawberries. Activities such as these provide valuable learning experiences for students that can be replicated at home.
Picture 1- 8th grade culinary visited Center Hill Farm and were able to pick buckets of strawberries.
Picture 2- Makalya Mullins and Edyn Grantham enjoy picking strawberries for their culinary project.
Picture 3- Cylee Murphy proudly poses with her bucket of strawberries.
Picture 4-Kymberly Navarro and Makylah Garcia standing in the strawberry fields at Center Hill Farms.
Picture 5- Kaitlin Garcia enjoying the fresh air and strawberry picking.
Picture 6- Marisol Martinez taste-testing the strawberries.
Picture 7- Josiah Trevino and Javier Bermudez closely examine their strawberries, selecting only the finest quality.
Picture 8- Left to right- Paola Lucatero, Angel Santiago-Padilla, Ryder Thomas, and Rosalind Graham show off their harvest of strawberries.
Picture 9- Jenesi Trevino shares the handful of strawberries she has picked.
Picture 10- Genesis Magana, Cristal Rincon, Cody Lopez, and Ryley Dishman enjoy a day of learning outside of the classroom.
Picture 11- Catarina Johnson and Cylee Murphy are all smiles as they enjoy some fresh air and hands-on learning.
Picture 12- Hardee Junior High School Students gathered around listening intently to strawberry facts and instructions on how to properly pick their berries.
Picture 13- Paola Lucatero pours fresh-squeezed strawberry lemonade.
Picture 14- Rylan Thomas working hard to make strawberry lemonade.
Picture 15- Catarin Johnson shows off her culinary skills using the freshly picked strawberries from the culinary field trip.
Picture 16- Katarina Herrada and Damian Gutierrez enjoy a strawberry puree version of strawberry shortcake.
Picture 17- Paola Lucateros and Rosalind Graham carefully strain their strawberries as they prepare to make strawberry freezer jam.
Picture 18- Samuel Suarez uses his culinary safety training to cut fresh strawberries.
Picture 19- Shanah Virgile decorates chocolate-covered strawberries for a fun staff Valentine's Day treat courtesy of Hilltop principal, Beverly Cornelius.
Picture 20- Genesis Magana and Cristal Rincon give the thumbs up on their chocolate-covered strawberries.
