January 17^th, 2017, The Youth Connection teamed up with the 6^th grade students of Ms. Allay science class in Fisher Magnet Upper Academy to implement the “Sprout Your Own Potato” project that features our nutrition education program I2D2 Fruit/Vegetable of the Month.

We provided the students with a potato kit (a potato, four toothpicks, and a plastic cup) and instructed them to cut the potato in half, insert the potato in the plastic cup with water and use the toothpicks to hold your potato firmly in the cup. This project required students to keep the potato in direct sunlight and to change the water when necessary or if the water becomes foggy and smelly. In order to keep track of the progress of their potato, students will take a selfie with their potato each week and post it on their social media account (Facebook, Twitter or Instagram) using the hashtag #I2D2VOTM.

Students continued to post their potato selfie each week on social media accounts to show growth of the potato and if sprouts appear. There were many challenges with the project such as students not having enough direct sunlight or none at all, which made many potatoes rotten and smell, causing students to redo their project. February 9^th, 2017, green sprouts started to appear out of many potatoes, making this experiment successful!

Below are pictures of students sprouted potatoes:

The Students were amazed by the results of the sprouts growing out of their potato, and so were we. The Youth Connection would like to congratulate the Fisher Upper 6^th grade science students for participating and completing Phase 1 of the potato project. Now they’re preparing their potatoes for the next phase: Planting Their Sprouted Potato.

The students will now plant the potatoes in soil, put them in direct sunlight and continue to water the potato every 2- 3 days until the potatoes are fully grown in the next 3 months! The potatoes will then be useful for a delicious baked potato, potato wedges or to sprout a new potato!