- Nourish Champions
Meet the Truro Middle School Food Security Team
At Nourish Nova Scotia, we’ve seen firsthand the impact that nutritious food at school can have. It promotes student well‑being, supports learning, and lays an essential foundation for helping students build positive relationships with food. We deeply value the role of hands‑on food experiences for children and youth, and we’re continually inspired by the educators and students who lead the way in bringing these meaningful opportunities into the classroom.
If you were to peek in the classrooms at Truro Middle School, you might be surprised to find 7 aeroponic tower gardens! That’s a lot of growing potential for one school.
Teacher, DeAnne Pelchat, leads an extracurricular group of students who help care for, harvest and of course eat the produce grown in the Tower Gardens. This year, the Truro Middle School’s Food Security Team is made up of keen grade 5 and 6 students. For the 2025-2026 school year, the students set up a very ambitious goal- to grow and share 100 salad kits with friends and families to help increase access to healthy, local foods- grown right at school!
To better understand why this work matters, Ms. Pelchat sat down with the group and interviewed each club member to hear their thoughts on growing food, trying new vegetables, and why they believe sharing their harvest is important. Here’s what they shared:
James
Why do you think growing greens and herbs and making salad kits is important?
“Well, it can help the school community and it’s something nice to try for other people.”
What do you like to eat with your vegetables?
“It depends… for like salad, I like ranch but if it’s like cucumbers and stuff, I like hummus.”
Cameron
Why do you think giving kits to families and students in the school is important?
“To encourage kids to eat healthy.”
What’s your favorite thing to grow in the tower garden?
“Probably dill and herbs.”
Mfonabasi
What do you do with the salad kits made?
“Well, some of them we take them home or give them to our friends, friends in the school and they end up taking them home to their families.”
How do you feel about potentially reaching 100 kits by the end of the year?
“That would be really nice. It’s our goal to get to it so it would be really nice if we achieve it.”
Torin
Why do you think it’s important that the food security team is making these salad kits?
“I mean, like to help other people who can’t really afford them.“
Have you tried any new vegetables?
“Yeah tons, like pretty much all of the stuff that we grow.”
Lily
What brought you to the food security team?
“I thought it would be interesting, cause I’ve never done anything like it.”
What is your favorite thing that you guys have grown?
“So far, probably dill or lettuce… dill or lettuce for sure, different varieties of lettuce. “
Through growing, sharing and learning together, the Truro Middle School Food Security Team is doing so much more than just producing food; they aim to build awareness, compassion and community.
With 50 salad kits already shared and a goal of reaching 100 by the end of the year, these students are proving that small actions can have a meaningful impact.
At Truro Middle School, food isn’t just something that you eat; it is something that is shared and used to care for others.