Eller students promote festival for healthy eating

By DAVID WEISSMAN Published November 13, 2012 at 11:58am Updated November 13, 2012 at 11:58am

A group of students in the Eller College of Management have been working with the Tucson Village Farm to promote its annual harvest festival, which was held on Saturday.

Tucson Village Farm is a non-profit organization associated with the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. While the farm is technically part of the UA, it is not financed by the UA budget and gets its funding from donations and grants.

“Our goal is to teach people how to grow food and how to harvest and eat food, and how to make healthy choices in their life,” said Elizabeth Sparks, who works with the Pima County Cooperative Extension right next to the gardens. “We want people to be healthy and happy.”

The harvest festival was intended to teach children the benefits of healthy eating. The festival featured a farmers’ market, free samples, cooking demonstrations and a petting zoo, as well as live music and games.

The group of five Eller College students created a flier for the farm as well as a public relations and marketing guide for the farm to use for future events.

The effort was part of the Business Administration class. Other students in the class did different tasks for the farm, such as creating QR codes which visitors could scan and learn more about healthy eating.

“Tucson Village Farm seems like a great organization,” said Terrence O’Connor, an accounting junior and one of the five students promoting the event. “It’s really cool how they’re teaching kids how to eat healthy and grow food.”

James Ianni, a high school student who regularly volunteers with the farm, said he liked the idea of having a place available for people to grow their own food and learn about healthy eating.

“I think it’s amazing, the idea behind it is great,” he said. “The fact that it exists is incredible, that there is something like this out there for kids to get involved in growing their own food.”