BVSD School Food Project's partnership with Americorps: Expanding capacity and supporting high-quality school meals

Guest feature by BVSD Americorps members Miriam Holleb and Micah Rogers

Did you know that AmeriCorps service members are working right here in our district? Specifically, they are part of the Colorado Alliance for Environmental Education (CAEE) branch of AmeriCorps.

Back in 2021, as the Boulder Valley School District was beginning to return to some degree of normalcy after the COVID-19 pandemic had shut down schools and paused many programs, the former Grants and Programs Coordinator for BVSD Food Services, Mary Rochelle, saw a crucial need. As part of the department’s School Food Project (SPF) initiative, she recognized the essential support required to fully reinstate and expand the nutrition and farm-to-school programs provided to all BVSD schools. This realization led to the vital partnership with AmeriCorps.

The School Food Project's Mission

The School Food Project believes that all children deserve daily access to fresh, flavorful, and nutritious food. This food is made with wholesome, scratch-made, and, when possible, local ingredients so that every child may thrive.

In addition to serving over 17,000 scratch-made, healthy meals daily, the SFP promotes a holistic understanding of food systems and nutrition. This focus is essential to increase students’ food literacy and help them make informed decisions about their food choices. Recognizing that children have limited opportunities for continuous learning about food, farming, and nutrition, the SFP aims to help students establish a positive connection with food and create lifelong healthy habits through interactive activities and events.

Expanding Our Capacity with AmeriCorps

The SFP's AmeriCorps journey began with Miriam Holleb, who served two terms in 2021-2022 and 2022-2023. Miriam continues to be a champion of Farm to School efforts as our Greenhouse Manager, working alongside the service members who have succeeded her. Micah Rogers also served two years with the department, helping to significantly expand the number of students reached through our programs district-wide.

Now, in the 2025-2026 school year, the SFP is the beneficiary of two new AmeriCorps Service Members! This doubles our capacity to share engaging nutrition and farm-to-school-related topics with students all across the district.

Programs Run by Our Service Members

Now that you’ve read this far, are you wondering what programs the SFP offers? From the cafeteria and classroom to the greenhouse and Culinary Center, the AmeriCorps Service Members, Hailey Neuburger and Anh Klink, are the driving force, conducting diverse, engaging activities for all age groups.

While serving nutritious and tasty meals with locally sourced ingredients is one achievement, ensuring that our students understand the importance of eating high-quality school lunch is another.

• Rainbow Days in Elementary Schools.
  Rainbow Day is a popular cafeteria event where we celebrate the choices provided on the salad bars and the deliciousness of creating a “rainbow” on the lunch tray. Even though students receiving free hot lunches are required to grab something from the salad bar, they often don’t take full advantage of the various fruit and vegetable options they have daily. To remind them of the importance of consuming plants for their wellbeing, plantable seed bracelets with the message “Eat a rainbow, plant a rainbow” are distributed.
   
• In-Class Visits
  Rainbow Days are a fun in-cafeteria activity to promote the salad bar, but to delve deeper into these topics, AmeriCorps service members travel from school to school for in-class visits. They share lessons on the various aspects of food: how to grow food and make smart food choices. Classroom visits are offered all school year, with Anh and Hailey creating activities that seamlessly fit into the students' current curriculum, keeping the information both relevant and fun to digest!
   
• Field Trips to the Culinary Center
  When they're not out at the schools, the service members are back at the Education Center Campus, the home base where the SFP Culinary Center and Greenhouse are located. The SFP offers engaging field trips for students of all grades to visit the site and learn about the crucial connection between growing food and processing food here at the facility. Students get to come get their hands dirty in the greenhouse and meet the chefs who cook school food here at the culinary center, creating a full-circle learning experience.

A Partnership for Program Expansion

Simply put, without the AmeriCorps service members, most of our school food educational programs could not be offered at the scale they are today. This incredible partnership has opened doors for so many opportunities for program expansion, reaching thousands of students and cementing the School Food Project’s commitment to food literacy and wellness across BVSD. The lasting impact of their dedication is felt in every classroom and cafeteria they touch.