The little ones chopped and mixed ingredients together on a recent morning at Salt River Schools. Their tiny hands were busy, and the smiling was contagious across the room. 

The Early Childhood Education Center (ECEC) took salad to the next level with the Blue Watermelon Project and Salt River Schools Food Services Manager Chef Shannon Reina.

The Blue Watermelon Project is a nonprofit group of chefs, community partners and volunteers who dedicate their time and effort to helping students create a healthier relationship with food. The group was established in 2016 and partners with 50 schools in four different counties within Arizona. The project’s goals are to provide more local and seasonal foods for students, get them involved in cooking and encourage them to try new foods.

Blue Watermelon Project staff gathered with around 60 students and their family members in the ECEC multipurpose room on Jan. 16 to provide a hands-on cooking lesson with students ages 3 and 4. Before the lesson began, Chef Reina greeted the students and shared some appropriate O’odham vocabulary words with them. She said, “Where’s your ciñ (mouth)? You’re going to use your nose to smell, which is da:k. We’re gonna use our ears, na:k. All throughout this lesson you are going to be looking at me, looking at Chef Charleen [Badman], looking at your teachers, looking at the fruits we are going to be working with. Looking at your hands and we’re using our wi’, our eyes. We are also going to be [asking] sa: ‘o ka:k, what does it taste like.” 

Badman, a James Beard Award–winning chef and founder of the Blue Watermelon Project, started off the class with a coloring sheet. Throughout the lesson, the students picked, chopped and mixed their ingredients together to create their dish, a kohlrabi and green apple salad. 

Dominique Garcia, Head Start teacher for the Bear/Judaam classroom, was pleased with the experience for her students. “The children had so much fun—they loved being helpful and working together to achieve a shared goal,” said Garcia. 

She also shared how the ECEC values Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community culture and traditions: “Understanding where ingredients come from feels like the first step in honoring those traditions.” After the Blue Watermelon Project visit, Garcia bought a plant for the classroom. She said, “We now have a daily helper who waters it every day, and the children are so proud of that responsibility.”

Tina Pekovitch and Monique Garcia are the garden keepers for ECEC. They started the garden in 2021 and have help from the ECEC groundskeeper and Community Garden staff Jared Butler and Stetson Mendoza. 

“We officially introduced the ECEC garden during a Grandparents Day event, where the Community Garden team graciously joined us to share their knowledge and some goodies—including traditional seeds from plants grown in the Community Garden,” said Pekovitch. She added, “We have the pleasure and privilege of working with Shannon Reina and the Blue Watermelon crew, who continue to teach and inspire us.”

The event with the Blue Watermelon Project is a step in the right direction. Pekovitch said, “This continuous garden journey is a passion that I truly believe will come full circle through the children and families we serve as we continue to build meaningful connections and collaborations.”