Ag Kids Rock: Growing STEAM Minds in Nature’s Classroom

K-12 STEAM education

South LA

Pilot or new project, program, or initiative (testing or implementing a new idea)

Too many children in Los Angeles lack safe access to greenspaces, hands-on STEAM learning, and fresh food. At the same time, many science educators are under-resourced and overburdened, lacking tools to connect core standards with real-world, local experiences. Black and Brown communities—especially in South LA—face food apartheid, underinvestment in education, and few opportunities for joyful outdoor play and ecological literacy. Without early exposure to environmental stewardship and healthy food systems, our youth risk disconnection from land, science, and themselves. Now is the time to root solutions in community soil—combining STEAM, sustainability, and play to grow a healthier LA.

Ag Kids Rock is a nature-based STEAM education and greenspace equity initiative rooted at Epworth Farm LA. Through a 6-week summer farm camp and a continuing education program for local science teachers, this initiative creates hands-on, joyful connections to food, science, and land. The youth component serves children ages 11–15, primarily from South LA, with activities like compost science, soil testing, cooking chemistry, seed art, garden yoga, and farmer’s market math. Children will plant, harvest, and cook what they grow, engage in play-based ecological learning, and lead small weekly farm stands.
Simultaneously, the STEAM Roots Teacher Fellowship will train 15–20 educators in culturally responsive agri-science practices. Teachers will co-learn alongside students, receive NGSS-aligned curriculum kits, and receive mini-grants to support school garden projects. Ag Kids Rock is unique because it nurtures both students and teachers in one ecosystem—bridging play, pedagogy, and food justice on sacred, healing land. It's not just a summer camp—it's a movement toward systems change rooted in joy and justice.

If successful, Ag Kids Rock will grow a generation of eco-literate, curious, and connected youth in LA—kids who know how to grow food, understand science through lived experience, and see themselves as stewards of their communities. Teachers will be equipped to bring agriculture into classrooms, bridging textbook science with real-world relevance. In the short term, we’ll create an immersive outdoor classroom where land and learning thrive. In the long term, we envision scaling this model to other faith-based and community farms across LA County, seeding a network of green learning hubs that advance food justice, healing, and environmental education citywide