Photo Gallery

On June 4, I had the exciting experience of meeting First Lady Michelle Obama and speaking about Murch Elementary on the White House Lawn. Mrs. Obama has been fighting childhood obesity since her husband took office and on this particular morning, she invited 500 chefs, including celebrity chef Rachel Ray and Top Chef star Tom Colicchio, to hear about how they can get involved in schools to teach children about healthy eating. Murch Elementary was selected as a model school for this initiative due to our overflowing garden and successful GROW collaboration with Equinox Restaurant.

With Equinox chef-owner Todd Gray, I told the First Lady and the chefs about the hard work our teachers, parents, and students have done to create an organic garden filled with beets, lettuce, peas, and carrots. I mentioned how our first graders use the garden to learn about “the three sisters” and our fourth graders have decomposition bins in their classrooms filled with wiggly worms; how our fourth and fifth graders gobbled up bowls of salad and our third graders devoured peas dipped in hummus. Delighted by these stories, the chefs were inspired to help out schools in their neighborhoods.

After my speech, I had a chance to join the First Lady and celebrity chefs in the White House garden. We harvested fennel, rhubarb, asparagus, broccoli, and peas. The chefs whipped up quick dishes using the raw vegetables and simple ingredients like lemon juice, olive oil, and salt and pepper. As we sat at tables with red-and-white-checkered table cloths, I had a chance to reflect on the afternoon. I had just shaken hands with Michelle Obama and she had told me that she had heard all about the wonderful work being done at Murch. Celebrity chefs that I see on TV had congratulatee me on the successes at our school. I sat back, taking in the beautiful views of the White House, and felt so proud to be a Murch Mustang!

Thank you to Principal Ellis and all of the parents, teachers, and students at Murch who helped plant and maintain the garden over the past few months. A special thank-you goes out to Jacques Kapuscinksi, Lisa Burke, Judy Ingram, and Eileen Kane for leading the GROW projects this year. With your leadership, we made national news with our efforts to promote a healthy environment and healthy eating!

-- Norah Rabiah, assistant principal

Back