Third graders in Margie Butcher’s Chautauqua Elementary classroom recently welcomed King County Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda for a discussion on food insecurity, one of several guest visits planned as part of the class’s year-long Action Network Project.

The Action Network Project is a foundational component of Butcher’s curriculum and instruction and is designed to empower students to tackle a big issue with curiosity, compassion and courage. Through the project, students explore local and global challenges, hear directly from community leaders and ultimately take meaningful action. Students choose their issue in the fall, and the project concludes with a student-designed action project in the spring.

“This work helps students see themselves as part of their community and understand that their voices and actions matter,” Butcher said. “They are learning that big problems can be met with empathy, collaboration and hope.”

Mosqueda spoke about both local and global approaches to addressing food insecurity, focusing on the importance of public investments, such as food banks, pea patches and community gardens, as well as housing stability as a key factor in food access.

“We all want everybody, especially kids, to have access to food all year long,” Mosqueda told the students. “That is why it is important to invest in programs that support families and ensure children have access to meals, such as funding free summer lunches for all kids.”

To conclude the visit, each student wrote a letter of advocacy to Councilmember Mosqueda and handed it to her at the end of her visit. Students had learned previously about the concept of advocacy from speaker Erica Walker Garcia, a community organizer for Poverty Action Network.

The presentation by Mosqueda was one of eight planned speakers, each picked to help students explore the issue of food insecurity from multiple perspectives, including history, agriculture, policy, myths and realities, and ultimately, the power of community solutions.

Speakers include local experts Karen Biondo, Tim Heuer and Lisa Hasselman from Vashon Island Growers Association, as well as Emily Scott, the executive director of Vashon-Maury Community Food Bank. Additional speakers from off-island organizations include Natasha Dworkin, the director of communications at Northwest Harvest, and Anita Waghani, the community education project manager at Tilth Alliance.

Ultimately, the speaker series helps inform what the student-designed action project looks like later in the spring. Said Butcher: “Through these conversations, students deepen their understanding of hunger and food access while learning that even young people, such as themselves, can be powerful agents of change.”

Peter Woodbrook is the executive assistant to the superintendent at the Vashon Island School District.