As a part of Farm to School Coalition of North Carolina’s “Student Wellness Project”, three North Carolina students created the Teens Talk Wellness podcast earlier this year.

The students, Brunella Escate (senior at Cato Middle College High School in Charlotte, NC), Ella Jones (senior at North Rowan High School in Spencer, NC), and Kentwan Williams (sophomore at North Carolina Wesleyan University in Rocky Mount, NC), created the podcast as an outlet to explore student wellness from a Farm to School perspective, highlighting issues surrounding nutrition, food justice and inclusivity, funding, and much more!

Their shared goal for the podcast is to spread awareness about student wellness in schools, and to inspire others to make positive changes. “One of my main goals is that when anyone comes across this podcast, they will start to think about many ways to continue to improve on providing safety and healthy food for kids,” says Williams.

Equally important to them is the hope to address and correct issues that may hinder students’ success. “I hope to enhance the school community by addressing student wellness at the root. Systemics and stereotypes are so hard to address, but so heavily rooted in inhibiting students’ ability to succeed. I hope to bring awareness and empowerment,” said Jones.

Kirsten Blackburn, Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS) Farm to School Outreach Coordinator, who also serves as the coordinator and mentor for the student podcasters, says another important goal is to increase funding for School Nutrition Programs and staff. According to Blackburn, “staff are working with very little amounts of money…and there are very hardworking people who are trying to make the best with what they have so I hope to see that school meals are valued more, because a lot of times that’s a meal a lot of students don’t have at home.”

Blackburn mentioned that students should not only be participating, but have leadership roles in conversations and decision-making regarding their wellness. “Student wellness is students being able to have choice and agency over decisions and policies that impact them at school whether that’s the food they eat, the outdoor education components they can participate in, or for advocating for food justice, and climate justice in their communities,” said Blackburn.

The student podcasters are doing just that with Teens Talk Wellness.

During a recent episode, “Teens Talk Food Inclusivity”, the students discussed the importance of food inclusivity in school meals and how that influences societal views of food from different cultures around the world.

This episode highlights the positive impacts for students to have their native foods represented in their school lunches. “Students need to be exposed to nutritional foods and foods that represent them and their heritage. This makes the environment more welcoming and welcomes them to recognize food as fuel, and a tool to equip them to learn,” Jones said.

Williams adds that food inclusivity is also important for the physical health of students. “I think the reason we want to have food inclusivity is because we want to make sure that the food we’re providing is going to take care of everyone, considering what kind of allergy or condition they may have that prevents them from eating certain foods. We want to make sure that everyone is safe and healthy.”

The students hope that this podcast is a useful resource for students, parents, and community members as well as all parties involved in policy, decision-making, and food systems. With episodes addressing hands-on learning in school gardens to detailing the impact of policy on student lunches, the student podcasters are curating a diverse space for information sharing and advocacy surrounding student wellness.

The student podcasters hope to inspire other students to join the conversation in hopes that sharing student experiences will help promote awareness and create positive change. “My personal advice is go for it! We need people like you to get involved because many people think the adults will take care of it, but it’s affecting [students] directly. The students are the ones that deal with the impacts of it,” said Escate.

Students being a part of the conversation leads to what Blackburn calls “community decision making” that could help students for generations to come. “These are decisions that not only impact students at the time of the policy being enacted, but future students as well, so I feel like those most impacted deserve to have a say in their wellness and nutrition,” Blackburn added.

The Teens Talk Wellness podcast can be streamed on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Pandora, SoundCloud, and Spotify!