Kerri Eich is Director of the School and Academy of Health & Environmental Sciences at University High School (LAUSD). She’s been teaching at University High School since 2001. When the school converted to LAUSD’s ‘small schools’ format (2008), she led the transition the School and Academy of Health and Environmental Sciences with the support of several teachers and Administration. They opened a year early due to a supporting grant from the California Partnership Academies. With this funding they’ve been able to create over an acre of outdoor learn-scape that is unique to Uni and constantly evolving. Our Academy Classes include Food Sciences, Physiology, and Environmental Science. they were originally funded through the CPA “Green Academy” funding source, making us the only “green” Health Academy in the State.
She envisioned creation of a large school garden, which was built in 2011, with the support of Environmental Media Association, LA Conservation Corps and United Talent Agency. On Earth Day of 2012, UCLA student volunteers in conjunction with Uni students and transformed an adjacent hillside into an instructional Food Forest. Over the course of the next year they transitioned hundreds of native plants from Emerson Middle School that were going to be taken out due to construction into a native pollinator garden. This space now provides a continuous landscape of Monarch Butterflies.
All of my 90 Food Science students are learning hands-on, about sustainability and community health by preparing soil, planting, raising and harvesting crops from our 1-acre urban campus farm. She teaches nutrition through students’ interests in the garden. They prepare food as a class once a week and learn about the health benefits of eating the nutrients that food provides.
To celebrate, students organize and produce an annual Health & Fitness Fair for fellow students/staff and several community members. This years event will take place April 10th from 5:00-7:00pm. they will have several interactive booths, health talks, and our students will be preparing health food dishes for our guests to sample. They will also have a large variety of plants for sale all in an effort to rally our community around food, fitness, and the garden.
She also teaches Health and coach the Men’s Volleyball Team. This past fall she teamed up with Nutribullet and conducted a 3-month health study that has the potential to be published. they also were able to video our progress and our documentary will be put out by Nutribullet sometime this Spring. She is working on a Masters of Nutrition Science and am empowered by finding new ways to motivate youth toward healthier eating.
Because of our hands on approach to wellness she’s been able to witness many more positive changes in my students. she’d love to share some of these stories with your listeners.