How does our Educational Institution want to achieve food sovereignty?

Imperial Eagles Bilingual School is a country school that allows students to connect directly with nature. This way, through activities and scholarly projects such as the orchards, the creation of ecological paths, and recycling campaigns, students create a deep link with biodiversity and acquire tools to become citizens compromised with sustainability.   

For this reason, our institution celebrates every September Environment Day, a day that invites us to reflect and act in favor of our planet. Therefore, through speeches, games, cleaning, recycling, and planting, we are looking to promote environmental awareness in the educational community and to generate a positive impact in our surroundings. Together, we build a more sustainable future!   

This year, sixth-grade students, guided by the agro-ecological engineer student from the “Universidad de la Amazonia¨, María Angélica Vargas Isaza, have undertaken an exciting transformation in the institution. Through an interdisciplinary project that fuses biology and mathematics, it has turned a school space into a vegetable garden and nursery. In the face of the growing environmental crisis, this initiative aims to empower students with practical knowledge in sustainable agriculture. By combining theory and practice, we want to awaken in them a deep ecological awareness that motivates them to take concrete actions in their communities. In this way, we are sowing the seeds of a more sustainable future.  

(Imperial Eagles Bilingual School,2024)

The Agro-ecological engineering student Vargas Isaza highlights the enthusiasm of the children to actively participate in this project, showing a genuine interest in learning about healthy food production and environmental stewardship. As she said, “Food sovereignty implies cultivating our food, ensuring healthy, and chemical-free food. By supporting local farmers, we promote a fairer and more sustainable economy. Also, growing is a simple and graceful activity that connects us with nature and teaches us the value of local food and the seasons.  

After the project, we made an exhaustive evaluation of the impact of the experience, independently of the obtained results. Although the results were unexpected in all aspects, the procedure results were invaluable. Likewise, allowing the students to learn about their successes and mistakes, laying the groundwork for more successful projects in the future.  

Santiago Mora, a sixth-grade student, shared his enthusiasm for observing the growth of the plant and the production of the fruits. This experience allowed me to understand the importance of taking care of the plant and appreciate the effort of cultivating food. Cultivating tomato, coriander, paprika, cucumber, and Oregon, he understood the importance of each phase of the process, from the seeding to the crop.  

 (Imperial Eagles Bilingual School,2024)

To ensure the success of the project, it was implemented various agricultural practices. It was selected as a specific area with fertile ground and optimistic conditions for the crop. The ground is enriched with organic compost on the base of cow bone ash, providing the calcium essential to strengthen the plant and promote healthy growth. A constant irrigation regime and adequate complete the necessary care to maintain the plants hydrated and vigorous.   

Thanks to this project, Santiago acquired solid knowledge about sustainable agriculture and the importance of a healthy diet. This experience has let us value the effort that implies producing our own food and understand the challenges that confront agriculture on a global level.   

The project of the vegetable garden and nursery in the educative institutional Imperial Eagles Bilingual School demonstrated that ambient education, when it is coupled with practice and the active participation of the students, could generate meaningful changes in the form in which we perceive and relate with our environment. When we cultivate our aliments, the students just don't learn about the natural processes, they also develop a deep respect for life and a commitment to sustainability. This pilot experience opens the door to a more promising future, where ambient education would be a fundamental pillar in the formation of responsible citizens and compromised with the care of our planet.