USDA grant helps Northeast students turn apples into key learning ingredient

April 25, 2025

Northeast High School students put their own twist on a familiar apple-based saying this spring when they included local crops in a community outreach event.
 
Members of Culinary II classes learned how an apple a day can create smiles all the way during a multi-day family and consumer sciences (FCS) lesson. They examined apples from a local orchard grower, baked oatmeal apple cookies with the Lincoln-based crop and provided the treats to area residents at a community showcase. The experience was part of a “Nourishing Northeast Lincoln” grant-funded program that is supporting agriculture education at Northeast High School and Culler, Dawes and Mickle middle schools.
 
Culinary II students Matthew and Ruby said they had gained many valuable life skills from the Nourishing Northeast Lincoln activities. The lesson’s goals were to help students understand where their food comes from, make informed purchases at grocery stores and farmers markets and have the ability to prepare that food at home.
 
“I think it’s pretty important, because if you don’t know where (your food) is coming from, then you don’t know the quality of it,” Matthew said.
 
“Just the experience of it has been good today,” Ruby said after bringing freshly-made cookies out of the oven. “It’s a good baking opportunity.”
 
Lincoln Public Schools FCS Curriculum Coordinator Kristin Vest said she was pleased to watch the Rockets learn more about the farm-to-school pipeline. LPS received a $100,000 grant from the United States Department of Agriculture this past summer. The Nourishing Northeast Lincoln program will benefit both FCS and Sustainability Department initiatives throughout LPS.
 
“The whole purpose of the grant is to help our students make connections between locally produced food, where our food comes from, teaching some fundamental things about agriculture and understanding the value of agriculture in our state,” Vest said. “For our culinary students, it’s about taking that food and then preparing it.”
 
The two-year grant will help students develop and expand school gardens and harvest food to use in their FCS classes and after-school clubs. They will learn about food sourcing, cooking and preservation techniques during the academic year, and there will be a mentorship program between FEWSS (Food, Energy, Water and Societal Systems) students at Northeast and eighth graders at Culler, Dawes and Mickle. Classes will also visit with local producers and growers about many agriculture-based careers during field trips.
 
The first portion of this spring’s lesson came when Picnic Hill Orchard owner Jason Steele visited with Culinary II classes. Steele spoke with students about the business, which is located on the southeast edge of Lincoln. The orchard produces 20 varieties of apples, ranging from well-known fruits such as Honeycrisp and Granny Smith to rarer types like Albemarle Pippin, Little Jewel and Nova Spy.
 
“It was actually entertaining learning all the facts about the apples,” Ruby said. “You go to the grocery store and you think all of them are the same, but they’re really all different.”
 
Matthew said he was happy to know that local farms and orchards are providing food for Lincoln residents. Students ate apple varieties that Steele brought from his orchard and tasted the differences in their flavor, tartness and texture.
 
“It’s pretty cool to learn from people, especially those that are close to home and grew up here and have spent their whole life here,” Matthew said.
 
The lesson’s second step came when students incorporated the local products into their oatmeal apple cookies. FCS teacher Bryce Peschel provided instructions before everyone began measuring flour, chopping apples and creating cookie dough.
 
Ruby partnered with classmate Teagan for the project. They assembled their supplies in a corner kitchen and marked off each box on the recipe’s checklist.
 
“I’m just hoping everybody enjoys them,” Teagan said. “It was fun.”
 
The third leg of the FCS relay race took place the following evening at Northeast. Vest provided free oatmeal apple cookies to visitors who passed by the FCS table. Representatives from the LPS Sustainability Department, City of Lincoln, Kiwanis Club of Lincoln, Southeast Community College and Family Service Lincoln’s Community Crops program were in attendance, and several LPS garden clubs showcased how they are growing crops and plants.
 
Visitors at the community showcase also learned how LPS contributes to the local economy through farm-to-school efforts. The school district spends more than $825,000 on local dairy products each year. It also purchases more than $150,000 of fresh produce items and more than $40,000 of chicken products from area farmers.
 
Vest said the multi-day FCS lesson gave students valuable perspectives about where their food comes from and the importance of local businesses. Not only can eating an apple a day be part of a healthy lifestyle, but consuming area products can nourish Lincoln’s entire economy as well.
 
“I think it’s tremendous,” Vest said. “They always say that’s the benefit of going to the farmers market, right, is learning who’s producing and growing your food and making that personal connection with them. So, for our students, who are consumers right now and will continue to be consumers in the future, I think it’s really powerful for them to see farmers and to hear from them, to hear about the hard work that they do.”
 
Visit home.lps.org/cte/fcs to learn more about family and consumer sciences classes at LPS and how they are preparing students for the future.
 
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