The fifth annual Tour de Cluck Bicycle Coop Crawl took place on Saturday, May 24.

This collaboration of Davis Farm to School, Yolo Farm to Fork and other sponsors and participating businesses bring a chicken-centered community activity to the City of Davis.

The City of Davis is well-known for its flat ground that is suitable for biking, exemplified by the city symbol of an old-fashioned bike. Similarly, the land surrounding Davis are vast areas of farmland; UC Davis is referred to mainly as an “Ag school.” The two concepts of agriculture and biking come together in this Davis-oriented family event.

“The event is a fundraiser to benefit the programs of Davis Farm to School and Yolo Farm to Fork, non-profit organizations supporting farm-fresh and local produce in school lunches, school gardens, elementary school farm visits and recycling and composting programs,” said Beth Harrison, executive director of Yolo Farm to Fork.

This year, the proceeds from ticket purchases and sponsors benefited the Davis Farm to School and Yolo Farm to Fork programs, with a shared mission of supporting farm-fresh school lunches, farm visits, garden programs and recycling.

According to their website, the mission of Yolo Farm to Fork is to educate the public, especially children, about the value of a farm to table community food system that also teaches us to value the environment. Davis Farm to School is a project of Yolo Farm to Fork, specifically working to create an educational and cultural environment in our schools that connects food choices with personal health, community, farms and the land.

“Davis Farm to School values good nutrition and has always had a desire to help the community understand and appreciate our local agriculture,” said Dorothy Peterson, founding chair of Davis Farm to School. “With Davis being a bicycle town, we came up with an idea of bikes and chickens for a ‘Coop Crawl’ for Tour de Cluck. With May being Bike Month and the idea of a chicken riding a penny farthing evolved into our logo. Over the years, Davis has supported what is now a successful fifth Tour de Cluck.”

The Tour de Cluck signature event is the Coop Crawl — an excursion around Davis, in which all participants travel by bike. Starting at the Davis Farmers Market in Central Park, there are all sorts of exhibits and activities by the Bicycle Hall of Fame, the Fowl Food Fair and the Community Crowers on the Green.

“Local restaurants (Fowl Food Frolic) prepare signature fowl dishes for two weeks to show the skills and talents of local chefs, Chicken Skool introduces education to a little known subject to inform novices about good chicken raising practices, and Community Crowers on the Green are groups and businesses that are showcased at the Davis Farmers Market to share valued information that center around the Davis Farm to School messages of good nutrition, waste management and growing their own food in school and home gardens,” Peterson said.

Many popular Davis hotspot eateries have shown support for this cause by their participation in the “Fowl Food Frolic.”

“Dos Coyotes was the first restaurant to support the Davis Farm to Fork program. It is the Dos mission to help with food literacy as well as teaching kids to eat healthy foods,” said Bobby Coyote, founder and owner of Dos Coyotes.

All of these Davis restaurants have local roots and exhibit their support for the Yolo Farm to Fork message by brandishing the Tour de Cluck emblem. Portions of chicken-related dishes bought at these establishments will go towards funding the Tour de Cluck cause in the last two weeks of May.

“The Symposium is very happy to be taking part in the program,” said Yanni Pendelos, owner of Symposium. “We feel that the more people understand their food supply chain, better, healthier decisions can be made about what they choose to eat. Symposium always tries to buy local and fresh, not always easy, but nonetheless important.”

The businesses of Davis come out to show their dedication to benefitting the people in their community.

“Since day one we’ve been a passionate supporter of any effort to help our kids get excited about eating healthy, delicious foods (which tend to be produced by our big hearted neighbor farmer friends),” said Pru Mendez, chef and owner of Tucos. “We’re so proud to be a supporter of the pioneering efforts of Davis Farm to School!”

SHANNON SMITH can be reached at city@theaggie.org.

University of California (UC) Regents published a report on May 15 addressing a plan to ease the transferring process from California community college students into the UC system.

This report followed UC President Janet Napolitano’s November 2014 address to UC Regents regarding upcoming plans for the UC system.

“The University [UC system] must reexamine how we interact with community college transfers,” Napolitano said. “Many California students begin their higher education journey at a community college, yet yearn for the opportunity to earn a four-year degree. We must continue to support the access and success of the diversity of the California community college population.”

The report entitled “Preparing California for Its Future: Enhancing Community College Student Transfer to UC”examines current issues surrounding the process of transferring into a UC school and details proposals to enhance the situation. These solutions have been imagined via collaboration of students, faculty, staff, the California State University (CSU) system and California Community Colleges (CCC).

“Transfer students who enroll at UC repeatedly demonstrate their ability to succeed, posting high graduation rates comparable to freshmen who began college at a UC campus,” the report stated. “Despite these achievements, the transfer process can be challenging, sometimes preventing otherwise promising students from meeting their goal of earning a four-year degree.”

The connection between UC and CCC is unique to California among national “selective research universities,” the report stated. While a majority of these prestigious institutions let in comparatively few transfer students from community colleges, about one-third of transfers enrolling in a UC in any given fall term started at a California two-year community college.

UC has found that these students perform at a high level, often just as well as UC freshmen, and have confidence in the level of education CCC offers. For this reason, UC hopes to expand their reach to CCC transfer applicants.

The current issues regarding UC transfer students include a lack of diversity and large percentage of students coming from only a handful of colleges.

Gov. Jerry Brown acknowledged that increasing transfer students into the UC system would benefit the state and save money by drawing in greater numbers of low-income and minority students.

According to studies conducted by UC Corporate Student System and California Community College Chancellor’s Office, minority transfer students enrolled in the UC system during the 2012-13 academic year at a rate of 3.6 percent African American, one percent American Indian and 21.3 percent Chicana/o or Latina/o. Furthermore, a lack in demographics “traditionally underrepresented in higher education,” including low-income and first-generation college students, was reported in UC transfer students.

Furthermore, Napolitano cited in her November address that 75 percent of UC transfer students transfer from one-third of California’s community colleges.

In order to diversify the UC community, the report details plans to increase UC presence at every CCC.

“Such an approach would expand the University’s presence in more underserved communities and increase students’ and counselors’ access to services and programming,” the report stated. “In order to instill confidence among community college partners that UC will maintain such a presence, programs must be supported by a system-wide commitment to a long-term, multi-pronged strategy that contributes to diversifying the transfer pool and encouraging those in it to matriculate at UC.”

Additionally, the UC identifies a lack of ease and transparency for transfer students during their application and course planning process.

“I wish I would’ve known more about transferring before I did it,” said Mallory Bonnema, a third-year human development major who transferred to UC Davis Fall Quarter 2013. “I wish that somebody had told me about the negative aspects of it and warned me that the first year would be rough.”

Regents seek to lighten the burden for transfer students by streamlining transfer pathways and creating “transfer-affirming cultures.”

“The [UC] Team believes that the institution must provide clearly defined and articulated pathways that delineate a road map for student transfer and completion of the baccalaureate degree,” the report stated.

However, some students are opposed to an easing of this process.

“I feel that the application process for transfer students shouldn’t be any easier than the process for incoming freshmen,” said first-year English major Amanda Leanne. “The measure of intelligence or ambition should be valued the same amount for any student attempting to go to a UC. I feel that transfer students already have an advantage from having more experience in life and in education. So if anything, the process should be more difficult or the same, but definitely not easier.”

After experiencing a slight decrease in transfer student applicants for the upcoming term, according to the fall 2014 Undergraduate Applications Fact Sheet, UC hopes their plans will expand applicant numbers and enhance the undergraduate experience for transfer students.

BRENNA LYLES can be reached at city@theaggie.org.

In the past two months, the Nugget Markets and Davis Farm to School and Yolo Farm to Fork have been awarding schools with ‘stellar garden programs’ across Yolo County. These organizations have been working to provide everything from workshops, grants for gardens in schools and supplies to supplement school-based garden learning.

The Nugget Markets is a family-owned upscale supermarket chain operating within the greater Sacramento metropolitan area headquartered in Woodland, Calif. Davis Farm to School and Yolo Farm to Fork are both non-profit organizations aiming to create an educational and cultural environment in local schools that connect food choices with personal health, community, farms and the land.

The schools, which received the awards in late April, were Holmes Junior High, Davis School for Independent Study and King High School in Davis, and Plainfield Elementary and Dingle Elementary in Woodland.

The criteria for winning were that of demonstrating effective, innovative and creative educational experiences through the school garden program. The schools chosen were able to provide several practical learning activities involving many subjects and classes in order to paint a unique and clear vision for the garden’s future and plans for sustainability for local students.

Dorothy Peterson, a representative from the Davis School of Independent Study (DSIS), believes that children have different ways of learning.

“DSIS affords their students to approach learning that best meets their needs at this stage in their lives. DSIS has created a way for the garden program to be a part of their educational experience regardless of what is being studied,” Peterson said.

Peterson adds that she believes all knowledge comes from books or the web and that hands-on experience is the best way to integrate a young mind without boundaries. She hopes the gardens will influence students to further appreciate California’s local and seasonal agriculture.

“Gardens in schools can not only assist with expanding the curriculum, but can provide a vehicle to see how things are grown within their own environment on the school grounds. I’ve discovered over the years in working with students in the garden, if they grow it, they will at least taste it. Eating and sharing a meal is a social and educational experience,” Peterson said.

King High School is a continuation school that specializes in credit recovery. It helps students who are at risk of dropping out but may want to graduate from high school. The school presented the garden as a club that incorporated cooking rather than a graded class.

“[The club] allowed the students to have an opportunity to participate as much as they were willing without the commitment of a class with grades. Also, we made sure that we used veggies from the garden or from the store that were farm fresh — one of the building blocks of Nugget Markets,” said Karey Spivey, a teacher at King High School.

Next year, King High School hopes to start the year with more organized curriculum starting with composting, harvesting and irrigation. They want to inspire students to move into careers involving farming and green energy. They are also working to include students in field trips that include farms, grocery stores, restaurants and recycling centers so students can see where vegetables start and eventually end up.

At Dingle Elementary, their garden is based on the “demonstration” model, where children may walk through and taste, smell, touch and look at the plants growing. The garden program is run by a fourth grade teacher and a community volunteer.

Each Monday, the school Garden Club meets for an hour of planting, watering, tasting, potting and composting. The garden provides a place for different methods of learning — hands-on practice in agricultural, scientific, writing and sensory development.

“At the Dingle Garden, students are consumers as well as farmers. The garden is a place where students who might have very little exposure to choosing fresh vegetables learn about what varieties of fresh produce they can grow and eat,” said Dingle Elementary School teacher, Jessica Friedman.

Friedman adds that the club members get the opportunity to plant several vegetables such as zucchini, lettuce, beets, chard, cabbage and watermelons that later in the year will be harvested and shared.

Across the board, leaders in these garden programs believe that many students do not know where and how their food ends up in their mouths. Because of this, they believe it is important that students learn how to garden at home no matter where they live and take that knowledge from school into their futures.

“I think the earlier that children learn about gardening and how to grow things they will take that knowledge and apply to their lifestyles — hopefully creating a healthier diet and outlook for themselves,” Spivey said.

ROHIT TIGGA can be reached at city@theaggie.org.