Fish to Schools
The Sitka Conservation Society (SCS) is a founding partner and coordinator of the Sitka “Fish to Schools” program. Our mission is to deepen youth understanding of local seafood resources by integrating locally-caught seafood into the school lunch program, introducing stream to plate curricula, and fostering a connection to the local fishing culture. SCS chose to engage in this project because local food was absent from school lunches, even though Sitka is the ninth largest seafood port in the United States. We believe that students should have access to this nutritious, local food that drives our local economy and represents the interconnectedness of our community. These local meals also require less dependency on feedlot meats and begin the foundation of a more resilient, regionally-adapted school lunch program.
Read the full Briefing Sheet on Fish to Schools.
Related Posts:
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SCS & JVC Northwest: Rooted in the Same Values
The Jesuit Volunteer Corps (JVC) Northwest has placed volunteers in various organizations all over Sitka for nearly two decades, focusing on issues of social and ecological justice. This year, I joined the Sitka Conservation Society team as their first Jesuit Volunteer (JV). Many of the core values of the JVC Northwest program align closely with [...]
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Students at Blatchley Love Local Fish Lunches
Over the last several weeks, Fish to Schools has been teaching 7th graders at Blatchley Middle School about salmon’s journey from the stream to our plates. The students learned about salmon management, gutting and filleting salmon, how local processors operate, how to smoke salmon, and more. After learning this process, the students had incredible things [...]
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A Video to Celebrate Fish to Schools!
Check out this great video prepared by our new JV Americorps, Courtney Bobsin, on the importance of Fish to Schools. We hope this inspires you to choose fish for lunch tomorrow, the first for the 2012-2013 school year! The script: “In Sitka we, as a community, have an outstanding opportunity to have a strong relationship [...]
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Meet the Staff
Click here to hear Natalia, Ray, and Courtney on Raven Radio’s Morning Interview Sitka Conservation Society staffers Natalia Povelite (Tongass salmon organizer), Ray Friedlander (Tongass forest organizer), and Courtney Bobsin (Jesuit Volunteer, Fish-to-Schools) discuss their respective projects, and why they chose to work in Sitka.
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Celebrating a Year of Fish to Schools
The Sitka Conservation Society’s Fish to School Program has nearly completed its first full school year with raving reviews, community support, and strong partnerships. These local fish lunches are served as a hot lunch option through the school lunch program. Lunches are available to all students, totaling about 700 students with about half of those [...]
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Fish to Schools to be Honored at Benefit Dinner on Wednesday 4/25
When people from the lower 48 think of Alaska, images of the Deadliest Catch, the debate around drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the open tundra of the north often come to mind. But, there is a lot more to Alaska. Despite the long winters and short summers Alaska is joining the nation’s [...]
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How Does SCS “Develop Sustainable Communities” and Conserve the Tongass? Here is how we try to do it with the Fish to Schools program
The Sitka Conservation Society strives to blend sustainable community development with policy advocacy through projects and initiatives that demonstrate our ideals while building community and community assets. Along the way, we organize stakeholders to work together with a commonly shared vision. The ideal projects are those that bring people together working face-to-face/shoulder-to-shoulder to jointly and [...]
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We Love our Fishermen!
Check out this incredible video created by our good friend and local filmmaker, Hannah Guggenheim, documenting the “We Love our Fishermen Lunch” on 2/8/2012. WE LOVE OUR FISHERMEN! The Fish to Schools Program began as a vision at the 2010 Sitka Health Summit and with community support and leadership from the Sitka Conservation Society, we [...]
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Fish to Schools live on KCAW with three Sitka students!
Listen to a live radio broadcast of the Sitka Conservation Society’s Fish to Schools Program. This program exemplifies our commitment to community sustainability by connecting students to local, healthy, and affordable seafood. Twice a month students are served local fish for lunch at Keet Gooshi Heen, Blatchley Middle School, and now Pacific High. To supplement [...]
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Thank you Fish to Schools, Sincerely Pacific High
Dear Sitka Conservation Society, Thank you for bringing fish into our school, Pacific High School. You are not only forging a new path in the National School Lunch Program, you are changing the system. Each fish you provide to the schools in the district enriches our student’s nutrient profile as well as connecting them to [...]
