Dre Maher has created a thriving local food network at Nevada City School for the Arts, connecting freshly-prepared school meals with farms, classrooms, and the wider community. Under her leadership, more than 20 local farms now provide produce and meats, helping the school serve meals made with 75% California-grown ingredients. Dre has also made the farm itself part of the learning experience. Through a partnership with Heart and Soil Farmstead, students visit a regenerative farm, plant wheat, harvest grain, and turn it into fresh pizza—building a tangible connection between soil, food, and the cafeteria. By bringing farmers, educators, and students together around the table, Dre is changing how young people see school food and the systems that nourish them, while growing a farm to school program rooted in healthy children, healthy communities, and a healthy planet.

Jason Corona is a chef and community-centered leader transforming school food at Oxnard School District by investing in both the people who prepare meals and the families they serve. He has strengthened his team through hands-on training, improved equipment, professional development, and a culture where staff ideas are heard and valued. When SNAP delays threatened food access for families, Jason used the district’s farm to school grant to launch a free monthly farmers market, bringing fresh food directly to the school community. His leadership also reaches beyond the district: he has welcomed a California legislator to see school meals firsthand and traveled to Sacramento to advocate for school food and farm to school. By pairing culinary leadership with a deep commitment to equity, Jason is helping grow a school food culture where fresh, culturally-responsive meals and community care flourish together.

Odili Barrios has crafted a school food program rooted in relationships—with students, staff, farmers, and the Chowchilla community. She has led a shift from packaged foods toward freshly-prepared meals featuring food from local farms, leading to students eating more fresh fruits and vegetables at school. Her close-knit team of ten, all members of the local community, helps shape decisions and shares in the program’s success. The results are visible when students arrive in the cafeteria asking for frisée lettuce, kale, or oranges from nearby farms—and when graduates say they miss the food. Odili has also strengthened partnerships with administrators and teachers through the school district’s wellness committee and works with the campus farm to grow vegetables for the cafeteria. By building trust across the school community, she is growing a vibrant school food culture that students value, remember, and carry with them beyond graduation.

Michael Jochner is cultivating an ambitious vision for school food at Morgan Hill Unified School District: a 20-acre school farm where students, farmers, staff, and community can grow and learn together. His leadership begins with building his team’s “culinary IQ”—knowledge, skill, and pride in preparing fresh, locally-sourced school meals. That vision is already taking root through hydroponic gardens in classrooms and converted shipping containers that now grow all the lettuce for the school district’s salad bars. The new farm will expand that work, pairing hands-on education with harvests grown for school cafeterias. Supported by local leaders and the wider community, Michael is creating more than a source of fresh food; he is building a living classroom that can change how students understand where food comes from. His message is simple and powerful: students deserve real, fresh food—and the knowledge to recognize its value.

Kevin Ralston brings creativity, community, and a strong sense of place to Eureka City Schools' farm to school program. His leadership connects students with the people, farms, and stories behind their food through farm visits, classroom activities, taste tests, family farm stands, and partnerships with local growers and food hubs. Kevin also uses the arts to make those connections memorable, working with local musicians and puppeteers through Grow Together and creating a farm to school fair where community partners gather around local food. In a region where farmers are neighbors, and the farmers market is part of community life, he has made farm to school a vibrant expression of Eureka itself. By helping children experience food through taste, story, art, and place, Kevin is planting an early awareness that everyday food choices connect to personal health, thriving farms, and the well-being of the wider community.

Michelle Drake has spent her career expanding what students can experience, learn, and imagine through school food at Elk Grove Unified School District. Under her leadership, a team of 430 employees built a robust nutrition education program that brings farm to school to life from elementary school through high school. Young students tour school kitchens, visit Fiery Ginger Farm, and learn about food access at the local food bank, while older students can explore culinary arts and sustainable agriculture through Career and Technical Education. At the center of Michelle’s work is a belief that every student deserves nourishing food without stigma and the chance to experience fresh, high-quality ingredients. Whether a student is tasting blueberries for the first time or seeing how food travels from farm to cafeteria, Michelle has helped make school meals a doorway to greater possibility—growing curiosity, dignity, and lifelong connections to healthy food.

Amy Haessly and Yessica Venegas are building lasting bridges between Fallbrook Union Elementary School District and local farms through strategic, trust-based procurement. Their approach recognizes that farm to school is about more than a transaction: it is about creating reliable pathways for local producers, investing in community, and helping students understand the people behind the food on their trays. Working with their team, they have built relationships with small farms, food hubs, and local businesses that bring a bountiful mix of seasonal foods—from persimmons and avocados to locally made tortillas and pizza crust—into school meals. These partnerships strengthen local markets while giving students more opportunities to experience fresh, regionally grown food. By making farmers, food service staff, and local ingredients visible, Amy and Yessica are showing how thoughtful procurement can nourish students, support local producers, and deepen connections between schools and the communities that feed them.