14/04/2026
🌱✨ Last night’s School Board Meeting was a special one as we recognized our incredible Student Garden Leaders and our valued community partners!
This school year, we were proud to receive a grant through Louisiana Farm to School and launch a pilot program in collaboration with Bellingrath, CIS, and our school cafeterias. One of the most exciting parts of this initiative has been the strong partnership between our school nutrition teams and classroom teachers. Bringing learning to life from the garden straight to the table!
Our students are growing a wide variety of crops and experiencing firsthand how the food they learn about in the classroom connects to what they see and taste in the cafeteria. 🌿🍅 This true “garden-to-table” experience is making a lasting impact—helping students understand where their food comes from, build lifelong gardening skills, and make healthier choices.
We are incredibly grateful for the opportunity to participate in this program and for the generous grant funding provided by Central Bloomers, which supported all of our school sites.
A heartfelt THANK YOU to our amazing community partners who made this possible:
💚 LSU Ag
💚 Seeds to Success Team
💚 Central Bloomers
💚 Tractor Supply (local)
💚 Lagniappe Flower Farm
We also want to recognize our dedicated school leaders and staff:
🌟 Ms. Dawn Traupman, Principal – Bellingrath
🌟 Ms. Erin Bonaventure, Principal – Central Intermediate
🌟 Rebecca Rittell, Teacher – CIS
🌟 Lori D***s, Teacher – Bellingrath
🌟 David D***s, Facilities Coordinator
🌟 Cathy Fousse, Cafeteria Manager – CIS/CMS
And a very special shoutout to our Student Garden Leaders:
🌼 Abram Bunting
🌼 Belle Ann Baker
🌼 Shelby Campbell
🌼 Nellie Rangel
🌼 Elise Vedros
🌼 Layla Goins
We are so proud of the impact this program is making—these are lessons our students will carry far beyond the classroom! 🌱💚