Eckerd College students hone knife skills with campus produce in free class

The Knife Skills are Life Skills event on Nov. 20 schooled students on proper chopping for a seasonal salad. Photos by Izzy Wild Merl ’28

The earthy aroma of freshly harvested greens lingered in the air Nov. 20 as students gathered around tables in Fox Hall, their cutting boards piled high with vegetables recently grown on the Eckerd College Community Farm.

Local nutritionist and educator Wendy Wesley led the event sponsored by the EC Community Farm, as part of the Eckerd College Program Series. With a mix of practical instruction and nutritional insight, Wesley guided students through the essentials, from learning how to properly cut an onion to prepping produce grown right on campus.

Among the participants was Amelia Swiecki, a junior environmental studies and biology student from Crystal Lake, Illinois, who serves as student manager of Eckerd’s Community Supported Agriculture program at the farm and spends plenty of her free time helping veggies thrive.

“I thought it was going to be a great opportunity to learn how to cook with some of the fresh vegetables that we grow right here,” Amelia says. “Harvesting greens from the farm, chopping them and then eating them was a very full-circle moment.”

Students stand along a line of tables covered with cutting boards and various vegetables

All the produce used was provided by the Eckerd College Community Farm.

Students crafted a vibrant autumn salad filled with farm-grown greens. The highlight for many, Amelia explains, was learning the simple but often elusive skills like slicing an onion without tearing up and mincing garlic.

Top-down view of student using a large knife to cut greens

Students learned about knife sharpening and techniques to cut onions without tears.

“These are such basic adult skills, but no one really teaches you how to do them,” she says. “I think it was really valuable, a fun way to learn something people use every day.”

Beyond a culinary lesson, the workshop showed that Eckerd’s sustainability goal begins with student engagement.

“It was cool to see sustainability in action,” Amelia notes. “Even if you don’t work at the farm, you can still eat produce from it—whether from the cafeteria or a You-Pick event. This workshop brought all the parts together.”