EDGE LPS

Good luck to these AP Seminar scholars. They’ve worked hard all year and are ready to show off their learning on their exam today! 🖐️

Last week in the EDGE culinary class we had The Great EDGE Bake Off. Students were paired up and they selected a unique cookie recipe to make in class. Five pairs of students baked in the morning and then during 6th hour the students and teachers of EDGE sampled each of the cookies and voted on their favorite. Cookies baked included red velvet, Reece’s peanut butter, maple brown sugar, white chocolate M&M snickerdoodle and brownie delight. They were all delicious but in the end there were two cookies that tied for top honors - brownie delight and Reece’s. Congrats to all the bakers!

EDGE students in International Culinary traveled to the Crossroads in downtown Kansas City on Tuesday to visit Christopher Elbow Chocolates and Cafe Corazon. At Christopher Elbow Chocolates they enjoyed a presentation by Ethan Taylor, operations manager, describing the entire process of making the finished product - sourcing, preparation, designing, etc. EDGE students have worked earlier this semester on an Indigenous Food lab in which they made chocolate using cocoa powder so it was great to compare the process. Students were able to taste chocolate which originated from Madagascar, Vietnam and Ecuador - learning how soil and climate impacts the taste of different chocolates. Students then walked to Cafe Corazon in the Crossroads for lunch. This semester students made a variety of empanadas in class so it was great to taste a variety of empanadas at Cafe Corazon. They also enjoyed a variety of coffee drinks from South America. Christopher Elbow Chocolates Liberty Public Schools Café Corazón

Awesome EDGE Exhibition Night on Tuesday! We had 500+ visitors including teachers, administrators, students, board members, parents, family and friends attend between noon and 7PM. Students enjoyed sharing examples of their work and describing their learning process throughout the year. Thanks so much to everyone who attended. We all really appreciate it! Here are a few photos, will share more later. Liberty Public Schools

Tuesday is the big day! Open house exhibition between noon and 7 pm in The View at Liberty High School. Our students will be sharing examples of the great things they have done this year in EDGE.

Look who the EDGE students ran into today during a field trip down in the River Market - Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas!

This week EDGE students continued work on a client based project with the Missouri Department of Conservation. A month ago staff at the Anita B. Gorman Conservation Discovery Center contacted EDGE and asked if students would be interested in helping them create a third space that would help increase programming for the 18-31 year old demographic. A couple of weeks ago students visited the Discovery Center for research and have been working since on creating proposals related to changing physical spaces, programming and marketing. On Monday this week roughly 60 students presented their proposals the MDC staff. Staff members were impressed with the research and proposals from the EDGE students. We are excited to see which parts of these proposals the Discovery Center implements in their plans moving forward. Our students really enjoyed working with a client and knowing that their work was helping to solve a real world issue.

On Thursday, EDGE International Culinary Arts students traveled to the Ronald McDonald House inside of the ICU at Children's Mercy Hospital- Adele Hall campus. Working as a team, the group prepared and served 48 sloppy Joes, 10 pounds of cheesy potato casserole, and 8 pounds of garlic parmesan green beans to dozens of families with children facing serious medical crises. Last week, the students' lab served as a "test kitchen" for menu items, which were determined by accessibility, ability to scale, affordability, and taste.

Special thanks are in order for the Liberty High School chapter of the National Honor Society, who were our partners in this endeavor and made the donation for our class to buy the ingredients for this culinary and service experience. Liberty Public Schools

On Friday EDGE students visited the Anita B. Gorman Conservation Discovery Center as part of our current client based project. The Missouri Department of Conservation recently contacted EDGE to collaborate as they make plans to develop a third space in the center. A third space is a social setting separate from your first space (home) and your second space (work/school). The center is also exploring ways to increase participation with the 18-22 year old demographic.

In project sessions this past week students have been discussing how people today interact in America and the communities or groups they invest in socially. The book "Bowling Alone" by Robert D. Putnam has served as a resource to begin discussions examing civic engagement and social capital.

Students on Friday met with staff from the discovery center and toured the various physical spaces which could be utilized. Next steps in the project include creating reports in three areas - utilizing physical spaces, programing to encourage engagement from this specific demographic and marketing strategies. Students will be working within a budget as they develop their reports and they will be shared with the Missouri Department of Conservation with a potential for actual implementation in the center.

This is a great example of EDGE students having the opportunity to work on a client based project and solve real world problems in our community.

EDGE AP Environmental Science students teamed up with Liberty High AP Human Geography students for a field trip Thursday to the KC Farm School. The KC Farm School is a non-profit organization that provides hands-on urban farming with vocational education to connect people with food, land and community. The KC Farm School addresses food insecurity through programs, workshops and a farmers market that accepts SNAP.

Students toured the 14 acre urban farm and then participated in service learning - transplanting seedlings, moving compost, working in the greenhouse, etc. It was a great day of not only learning about the power of urban farming but also contributing service to a worthy local organization. www.facebook.com/KCFarmSchool/