{"id":9160,"date":"2026-02-27T11:14:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T16:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hra.org\/?p=9160"},"modified":"2026-06-30T08:27:54","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T12:27:54","slug":"anatomy-physiology-advocacy-project-winter-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hra.org\/anatomy-physiology-advocacy-project-winter-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Anatomy & Physiology Students Combat Food Insecurity in the Community through Winter 2026 Advocacy Project"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"HRA

Dr. Maribel Gendreau (second from left) with her anatomy and physiology class at THRIVE Peninsula food pantry<\/p><\/div>\n

With cutting-edge facilities right on its campus, Hampton Roads Academy is committed to using its resources not only to provide an <\/span>unmatched learning experience<\/span><\/a> for its students, but also to benefit the community at large.<\/span><\/p>\n

This winter, Upper School science teacher Dr. Maribel Gendreau\u2019s anatomy and physiology class exemplified this wider impact by partnering with <\/span>THRIVE Peninsula<\/span><\/a> food pantry in Newport News to supply local families with fresh produce cultivated in HRA\u2019s own <\/span>Martha H. Patten Hydroponics Lab and STEAM Classroom<\/span><\/a>. The two-month-long advocacy project culminated on Thursday, February 26, with a visit to THRIVE Peninsula, where the students delivered the vegetables they had grown and spent the afternoon volunteering in the food pantry.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"HRA

Gendreau guides her students as they seed leafy greens for their winter 2026 advocacy project<\/p><\/div>\n

Throughout January and February, as Gendreau\u2019s eleventh and twelfth graders maintained their plants and tracked their growth, they gained hands-on insight into how food is produced and affects our bodies while also learning what food insecurity looks like in their community. A quiet epidemic, food insecurity affects about one in nine individuals in Hampton Roads. The crisis is especially pronounced in the winter months, when food pantries, unequipped with indoor hydroponic growing towers, often struggle to provide fresh produce.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat excites me most about this project is the chance for our students to give back to the community and really understand that there are families who don\u2019t always know where their next meal will come from,\u201d Gendreau said. \u201cGrowing leafy greens to donate to a local pantry lets them take what they\u2019ve learned and actually make a difference,\u201d in the process \u201cbuilding cooking skills, teamwork, and a better understanding of how food impacts health and community.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Hands-On Learning with a Broader Impact<\/h3>\n

The anatomy and physiology class\u2019 collaboration with THRIVE Peninsula is part of a year-long curriculum that centers the intersections of biochemistry, diet, and society.<\/span><\/p>\n

Throughout the fall semester, Gendreau\u2019s students learned about food, nutrition, and human health through such practical activities as growing kale in desktop hydroponic units to make kale chips, cultivating peppers and cilantro to prepare fresh salsa, and exploring the benefits of tea and other foods and beverages rich in antioxidants and vitamins.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"HRA

Senior Grace Lee ’26 plants seeds to provide nutritious produce to the community<\/p><\/div>\n

Support for experiential learning throughout the food and nutrition unit has come from <\/span>Pilot Light<\/span><\/a>, a nonprofit organization that <\/span>empowers teachers to bring food education into the classroom and thereby inspire students to become informed citizens. As a member of Pilot Light\u2019s 2025-2026 Food Education Fellowship cohort, Gendreau has received funding for materials and food for weekly hands-on lessons that take advantage of the unparalleled resources available in HRA\u2019s hydroponics laboratory. Her active involvement in this selective professional development opportunity has been a boon to both her students and HRA\u2019s <\/span>community-engaged mission<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

On January 7, <\/span>just after winter break, Gendreau\u2019s class launched their advocacy project as a way to apply their skills and knowledge beyond the walls of the Academy. Split into five groups of two, each responsible for 28 plants in a hydroponic growing tower, the students tracked the progress of such greens as kale, arugula, butter lettuce, and sweet crisp lettuce for more than seven weeks. In order to ensure that they would produce healthy and delicious produce for families visiting the food pantry, they watered the plants every other day and adjusted the pH and electrical conductivity (a measure of nutrient concentration in the water) biweekly.<\/span><\/p>\n

This meticulous process, senior and aspiring nutrition and dietetics major Grace Lee \u201926 explained, \u201c<\/span>has taught me that the solution to this crisis is not simply providing more food, but higher-quality, nutritionally sound food. By growing our own food in the hydroponics lab, we are actively attempting to close the nutritional gap in our community.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Access to nourishing produce, Lee stressed, \u201cis a right, not a luxury.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Combining STEM with Service<\/h3>\n
\"HRA

Junior Faith Gregory ’27 harvests vegetables to deliver to the food pantry<\/p><\/div>\n

By teaming up with THRIVE Peninsula, HRA\u2019s anatomy and physiology students will ensure that every family in Hampton Roads can enjoy that right.<\/span><\/p>\n

Junior <\/span>Caroline Short \u201927 was especially excited to partner with THRIVE this semester, having volunteered for the organization several times since the summer before her sophomore year and collaborated with them on a food drive through the American Heart Association Club. \u201c<\/span>One thing I love about THRIVE is that they have a garden connected to the building that supplies them with fresh produce during spring and summer,\u201d she said. \u201cHowever, during winter, many of the plants can no longer survive.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

With its state-of-the-art hydroponics laboratory, Short noted, HRA is uniquely positioned to remedy this deficit and provide leafy greens rich in essential vitamins and minerals even during the coldest months of the year.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"HRA

Juniors Ashlyn Davis ’27 and Daphne Ambrosino ’27 help local families obtain groceries while volunteering at THRIVE Peninsula<\/p><\/div>\n

On February 26, the students witnessed the impact of their efforts first-hand when they delivered their vegetables to the food pantry. The day before, they had harvested the produce they had tended for weeks, weighed it, and separated it into bundles to bring to THRIVE Peninsula. Then, after school hours, they volunteered their time to help families obtain nutritious groceries, including their own leafy greens.<\/span><\/p>\n

For Gendreau and her class, the gratitude of their neighbors was the greatest reward.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThrough our unique take on \u2018farm to table,\u2019\u201d Lee said, \u201cwe learned that our resources and skills are not just for our benefit, but are powerful tools that we can use to strengthen and bring our community together.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s be honest,\u201d Gendreau added\u2014\u201ceverything just tastes better when it\u2019s made to share with others.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With cutting-edge facilities right on its campus, Hampton Roads Academy is committed to using its resources not only to provide […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":9377,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,49,50,133,136,138],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-school-news","category-featured","category-home","category-programs-facilities","category-service","category-field-trips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hra.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hra.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hra.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hra.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hra.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9160"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/hra.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9390,"href":"https:\/\/hra.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9160\/revisions\/9390"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hra.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hra.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hra.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hra.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}