The Davis Projects for Peace grants provide undergraduate students with $10,000 in funding to undertake a project that is an "immediate initiative aimed at bringing new thinking to the prospects of peace in the world," according to the organization's web site.
During their project, Schewe and Schneider saw groups of about eight campers twice a week for an hour and a half. They helped each group plant and harvest fruits and vegetables, and also taught them where food comes from and the differences between eating processed or transported food, and food that is grown locally. They also cooked the food they harvested and bought at farmers markets, according to Schneider.
"Bruchetta was a favorite with the kids; ants on a log, not so much," she said.
Schewe and Schneider helped each camper make a recipe book. The group also studied the ecological cycle that food is a part of and talked about where local food could be found after camp ends.
"The disconnect for these kids between what they're eating and where and how it was produced is extreme," Schneider said. "Access to knowledge about where food comes from and what it's like in its natural state can help them make better food choices, and the activities we do are just fun."
Schewe and Schneider decided to organize a weekend trip to Hanover after realizing the commitment of many of the counselors employed by the New York City government to work at the camp. The trip would combine outdoor experiences with information about college, according to Schneider.
During their time at Dartmouth, the counselors learned about financial aid options at Dartmouth and peer institutions and participated in mock interviews and discussions about college accessibility with students currently on campus for sophomore summer. They ate meals provided by Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, La Unidad Latina Lambda Upsilon Lambda Fraternity, Inc., Epsilon Kappa Theta sorority and the Sustainability Living Center, Schewe said.
Prior to coming to Dartmouth, Schneider participated in City Year, a program which allows accepted applicants to do educational and social work in struggling inner city schools and non-profit organizations. She helped run an after-school program for South Bronx students at the Point.
Schneider said after hearing about Projects for Peace, she designed this project because she wanted to bring something that had become important to her, organic gardening, to the community she had gotten to know during her time with City Year. Schneider is a regular volunteer at Dartmouth's organic farm.
After being awarded the Projects for Peace grant, Schewe applied for a First-Year Summer Research Grant so she could examine the kinds of food that students in the South Bronx eat regularly and the kinds of foods that students have access to.
"The kids and preteens we're working with aren't eating a lot of fast food, probably because they don't have disposable income yet," she said. "But they barely eat fresh fruits and vegetables either."
Schneider and Schewe acknowledged that, given the lack of sustainable, consistent access to healthy food, their project will probably not enable or prompt all the students they have interacted with to drastically alter their eating habits.
"When you go into a Bronx grocery store, you see walls of soda and stacks of canned and processed food, and then in the corner maybe some bananas and a few carrots," Schewe said.
Jonathan Foy, a counselor for the program and rising sophomore at Livingstone College in North Carolina, said he had seen changes in the attitudes of many of the children in the groups he worked with.
"Some of them got really into what they were doing, the idea that they could grow and make their own food," he said. "I think the main difference is they'll be more willing to try new things, and be on the lookout for ways to eat a little more healthily. I don't think the food they have at home will change though."
Schewe said that, while her research showed that access to healthy food in traditional places such as supermarkets and cafeterias is limited, there are other potential ways that the youth they work with could improve their diets.
For example, the city has recently begun a program in which food stamps can be used at some local farmers markets, Schneider said. She pointed out that the Hunts Point Farmers' Market in the South Bronx, however, has only a few stalls, making it tiny compared to most farmers' markets in Manhattan.
Schneider and Schewe have also hosted community dinners each week throughout their project, hoping to encourage involvement from the local community. The farm manager at Bryant Hill is now holding open hours in which members of the community can come volunteer and harvest produce.
