The Idaho Potato Commission along with the Center for the Advancement of Foodservice Education selected Life Learning Academy Culinary Instructor Derrek Brown to receive the national 2022 Secondary Educator of the Year Honorable Mention award.

Brown describes his work like this: “It’s the dream I didn’t know I had.” His goal is to teach students how to nourish themselves safely in the kitchen and how to become confident young adults through food.

Brown’s educational commitment shines through at Life Learning Academy, where 98 percent of students are youth of color, 82 percent are socioeconomically disadvantaged and more than one third are unstably housed.

The culinary program prepares and serves lunch to the full school community daily, meaning they serve 80 people, five days a week. They also make breakfast and dinner for a smaller group. This amounts to 9,000 meals a year.

The school was one of two schools chosen by the San Francisco Green Schoolyard Alliance to pilot a garden program. Through the garden, students experience food production from the schoolyard to the market. Brown teaches students the entire farm-to-table process with the use of freshly laid eggs from the chicken coop and produce from the organic garden.

Students also operate a weekend produce stand, which gives them small business operations experience and an opportunity to promote the role of school gardens in San Francisco.

Students learn food product development through harvesting honey from the school’s beehives, preparing lemon curd and hot sauce for sale, and leading bake sales and other student-initiated fundraising programs. Funds generated in these activities are used to pay for initiatives such as new photography equipment, end-of-year celebrations, and trips to Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

Many of Life Learning Academy’s students have been involved in the child welfare and/or juvenile justice system. The school is deeply proud of its student impact: a 70 percent reduction in truancy, 100 percent graduation rate, 100 percent of seniors are enrolled in college or employed at graduation, and zero incidents of violence on campus in its 24-year history.