‘Growing the Whole Child’ in Seeds of Health Schools

×

Expand

Courtesy of Seeds of Health Elementary

Principal of Seeds of Health Elementary, Theresa Yurk

Seeds of Health is an organization that has been serving Milwaukee since 1983 with health, nutritional and educational services. Seeds of Health now operates charter schools following kids from kindergarten through the 12th grade. Off the Cuff caught up with Theresa Yurk, principal of Seeds of Health Elementary to ask a few questions about this educational microcosm.

What is Seeds of Health?

We are a nonprofit organization. We were started in 1983 WIC clinic, for women, infants and children. From that, the executive director noticed that we needed some schools to educate some of the people coming into the WIC clinic. So, she started Grandview High School, which turned into a partnership with Milwaukee Public Schools to serve at-risk students in the city of Milwaukee. From there, Seeds of Health Elementary was started as a K-4 through eighth grade program. In addition, we've added three more high schools: Veritas High School and Tenor High School—which has two campuses, one in downtown Milwaukee and one in the Third Ward. These serve a total of 1,300 students in the city of Milwaukee. We are public schools chartered through different organizations. For example, Seeds of Health Elementary is a charter with the University of Milwaukee, so we're held accountable to the university as well as the state for our standards.

What so you think sets you apart from other schools in the area?

All Seeds of Health schools believe in the relationship model for educating students that we not only want to academically support kids, but we also want to support kids behaviorally and socially, as well as embracing the community and the family. I think what sets us apart is our beliefs in a small school setting and our belief in that relationship model. We really believe that we need to embrace the whole child in our education, and the only way to be able to support kids to grow academically is to also support them in every aspect of their growth. Kids are like seeds, and we're helping the kids grow all the way from when they come into the WIC clinic as babies, then into the elementary program, and then growing them into positive citizens in high school.

There are a lot of students in my elementary program who went to Grandview High School, so they're keeping within the Seeds of Health community. I think that a strong selling point of Seeds of Health schools is that we have that family feel. And we're also providing a rigorous academic curriculum for kids; all of our schools are closing the achievement gap at a rate greater than the state.

How did you react to the current crisis and the closure of schools across the nation?

We were actually very forward-thinking before the school closures. We were able to provide surveys students and families at the beginning of March, checking their need for Chromebooks and internet service at home. So, once we got those results and we learned that school was going to be closed, all students in grades five through eight and all students at all of our high schools had the ability to take a Chromebook home with them, as well as hotspots that we provided. So, we did not have any delay in our education. Teachers were able to use platforms like Google Meet, Google Hangouts and Google Classroom, and daily work was pushed out to the kids. Teachers were constantly checking in with the kids, as well as all the administrators; I personally made calls every day.

At the elementary program, we also provided daily breakfast and lunch for our families. They were able to come pick up breakfast and lunch during the closure, we had like a drive-thru for them. We are labeled as a CEP (Community Eligibility Provision) school by the state of Wisconsin, so we can provide breakfast and lunch free for all of our students every day of the fiscal year.

What do you do besides education?

At our elementary program, we partnership with different organizations that give dental exams to all of our students for free. We are able to give eye exams to all of our students for free, and we also run a lot of initiatives like a pop-up pantry. We are at 89% poverty rates for my school. So, we noticed that there’s a lot of our families who are in need, especially in this very difficult time, so we wanted to fund them in any way we can right now; that also means providing food for families.

The food pantry has just been conceived a couple weeks ago. I’m working in collaboration with the principal of Grandview High School, Debi Harry; someone she knows personally reached out to her and said they need some donation of food, and we thought it would be a great way to support our families. The amount of food that we got is overwhelming, but we have a very high need, so we opened it up to families through a couple of our schools.

How do you get funding? Do you accept donations?

We are a publicly funded institution, so the majority of the money does come through what we are allotted by the state of Wisconsin. We absolutely accept donations. Actually, on our website, there is a donation option. But we believe in strong community partnerships, and we've discovered along the way from people who have reached out to us that, when they see and hear what we're doing with the kids, they want to support that. For example, we had money donated so that we could build a makerspace room in the elementary building. We deeply believe in technology, so we have 3D printers for the kids, we're able to provide robotics for the kids, and a lot of that funding does come through private donations.

What do you think our readers should know about Seeds of Health?

I think it's important for people to know that we exist. We do serve 1,300 students all over Milwaukee County in schools that are public, open to all children, and that really offer a unique program. For example, Veritas High School is our four-year college prep program. We have Grandview High School, which is our alternative, at-risk program to support kids, whereas the traditional learning society just didn't work for them. We have our Tenor High School campuses where kids finish high school in three years, and then we can pay for them to go to MATC, so they actually can earn college credit while they are in high school. It draws on the individual needs of every kid, whether you’re a college prep or looking for a technical career. In Seeds of Health Elementary, we really focus on building the kids to go to one of our high schools. I had 94% of my students graduate eighth grade and get accepted into one of our high schools. We're really ‘growing the whole child,’ starting at the elementary program, focusing on that relationship model and working with kids as they mature through difficult times—elementary and middle school can be a difficult time for kids.

I think it’s important that we're really supporting behavioral and social health as well as academic learning. We believe in relationships, and we believe in bringing the family and the community at the core of everything we do while also providing a rigorous instruction for students. We’re proud that we take kids at any skill level they’re at, and we're able to guide them and prepare them for high school, prepare them for college or a technical career or the workforce. I personally feel blessed and honored to have been at Seeds of Health for my entire teaching career.

I just think it’s a special place, but not many people know about us, you know? It’s good to get the word out on who we are. We're some cool schools, and we offer some pretty academically rigorous programs for the kids, as well as activities and after-school clubs and sports. So even though we're small schools, we can open kids up to all possibilities.

For more information, visit seedsofhealth.org.