BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. -- It’s lunch time, and 12 year-old Gabrielle Glover and her friends are ready to dig in. But there’s no need to open wrappers, remove lids or plastic packaging -- because it's as fresh as you can get.

  • Odyssey Charter School in Brevard serves fresh food
  • School gets food from local farmers, keeps a garden
  • Charter school focuses on being eco-friendly
  • LIVE TOWN HALL: We explore The State of Education in Florida during a special town hall in Sanford -- get free tickets to the live audience below or tune in June 24

Odyssey Charter School​ Food Service Director Cindy Chapman says it's a big task to prepare fresh meals for more than 1,500 hungry students during the school year, because it's all about the "fresh, never frozen" approach.

''We get our food from local farmers, and some from our garden. We cook all food from scratch, all hormone (free) meat, all organic,'' Chapman said.

Gabrielle likes knowing where her food comes from and prefers the taste of fresh food.

''We eat from the garden that we grow," she said. "It's always fresh and better than at the store."

Odyssey Charter School is a school that focuses on being green. It uses nontoxic cleaners, recycles and works on reducing its carbon footprint by cutting back on electricity use. The architecture is designed to have lots of natural light without bringing in the heat.

The school has been awarded the U.S Healthier Schools Gold Award of Distinction by the Department of Agriculture, and the ECTAC award for exceeding expectations in student achievement.

  • Brevard County's school menu and nutritional information can be viewed at their website.
  • Odyssey Charter Schools timeline of achievements can also be viewed at their website.

Spectrum News 13 will explore The State of Education in Florida during our live In Focus Town Hall next Tuesday.  We examine school choice, teacher retention, charter schools and standardized testing.

You can be a part of the live audience. To sign up for tickets, head to our Spectrum News 13 Facebook page and click on Events, or go to our event on EventBrite.  

In Focus Live Town Hall: The State of Education airs Tuesday, July 24 from Preservation Hall in Sanford.