Each year, Pilot Light welcomes existing Pre-K-12 teacher leaders to join The Food Education Fellowship. Fellows develop expertise with integrating Food Education into everyday learning for their students.
Here’s how Pilot Light invests in our Fellows…
The Food Education Fellowship is a multi-tiered experience. Over the course of the school year, Fellows:
- Receive 30 hours of professional development. Our professional development features leaders and experts in fields related to Food Education such as health, agriculture, school food, food equity, and advocacy.
- Receive 1:1 coaching from staff and peers to support the use of our innovative framework in their classroom.
- Earn professional development hours required for certification (Illinois teachers only).
- Receive a $2,000 stipend for their time, energy, and thought partnership as well as $300 for classroom materials and additional stipend for chef visits ($300-$500)
- Co-plan a chef demo aligned to their curricula with the Pilot Light team
- Collaborate regularly with a partner in the food space to build an advocacy project with their students through support provided by the Pilot Light team. These often include national and community partners or chefs/restaurants.
- Become part of a growing network of 100+ Food Education leaders.
Applications for the 7th annual Fellowship are now OPEN!
Learn more about the Requirements
2025-26 Application Timeline
Questions?
We’re here to answer. Start by checking out our FAQs and join us LIVE on Zoom Wednesday, May 7th from 4-5PM CT to learn from former Food Education Fellows Lisa Ernst and Nikita LaCour firsthand. This is a great opportunity to learn from a teacher firsthand about their Fellowship experience. Please contact Caitlin Arens, Food Education Fellowships Director, at caitlin@pilotlightchefs.org with additional questions.
Watch the recording of last year’s virtual office hours featuring Fellowship Alum Deborah Riddle here.
Rave Reviews
Since 2019, teachers have raved about the structure, content, and lasting impact of Pilot Light’s Food Education Fellowship.
“In the 8 years I’ve worked in Chicago Public Schools, I’ve had experience with a lot of professional development. I can say that Pilot light professional development is quality, from the land acknowledgement and awareness of the diverse identities in our world. I am very excited to receive ideas from speakers and fellows alike. I have taken many ideas back from PD to my own classroom, sometimes, the same week. I see a direct impact the learning has had on my practice but even trickle down to my student teacher.
Every speaker chosen for our PD has taught me something.”
-2024-25 Food Education Fellow
“I felt supported and valued in my expertise as a teacher throughout the Pilot Light Food Education Fellowship. The program provided great resources and professional development opportunities, and there was a real sense of community among the fellows. I had the chance to share my ideas and experiences, and they were always met with appreciation and constructive feedback. It felt good to be part of a group that respected and recognized the work we do as educators.”
-2023-24 Food Education Fellow
What does Pilot Light look like in the classroom?
The Food Education Fellowship is designed to be adaptable and flexible for teachers of all grade levels and subject areas. Through the use of the Food Education Standards, Fellows create new lessons or adapt preexisting curricula to include Food Education content in their everyday classroom instruction.
“Beefing Up” on Persuasive Writing
“One [academic] skill that 6th graders have to have is the ability to make a claim and then support it with evidence,” explains 6th grade teacher and Fellowship Alumni Network member Monica Chamberlain. This skill comes up in all of their core classes and it is something that can be difficult to master. This year, to begin our work with claims [and evidence], we did a cooking experiment with grain fed vs. grass fed beef.”
Students in this class gathered data to support their claim of either grass-fed or grain-fed beef being the better option. This lesson helped them learn this important persuasive skill while also learning about food systems and cooking skills.
Follow us @pilotlightchefs on Instagram for more stories from our classrooms!
Creating New Lessons + Leveraging Pilot Light Resources
Pilot Light’s Food Education Center is our online lesson plan library featuring FREE lesson plans and resources for teachers and families. Educators in our Fellowship are encouraged to use these lessons in their classroom or for inspiration as they create their own lessons.
Teachers use Pilot Light to create high-impact, engaging lessons that use food to teach everyday subjects like reading and math. A 2021-22 Fellow used the I Love Saturdays y Domingos by Alma Flor Ada for both English Language Arts and math. Students discussed culture and family before applying math skills to make waffles in class.
Professional Development Speakers
The Fellowship experience is further enhanced through partnerships and the expert speakers who join our professional development sessions.
Pilot Light is proud to invite a variety of speakers to share their knowledge and expertise with Fellows each month. We strive to partner with a diverse group of speakers from an array of professional backgrounds to offer interesting and valuable professional development experience for our Fellows.
In the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years, we welcomed 14 guest PD speakers, including:
- Elsie Dubray – Community Advocate, Stanford University Grad Student, and enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Lakxóta Nation
- Kandace Stallings – Emotional and Social Learning Specialist at Chicago Public Schools
- David Hutabaret – Partnerships Director at National Farm to School Network
- Janssen Hang – Executive Director of The Hmong American Famers Association
- Celie Davis – Director of Programs and Partnerships at Just Roots
- Larkin Podsiedlik – Executive Director at Cornell Cooperative Extension – Madison County, NY
- Sebastian White – Executive Director at The Evolved Network
- Monica Eng – Reporter at Axios
- Members of our Fellowship Alumni Network, including Amy Anderla (22-23), Regina Santiago (21-22 + staff), Anthony Schaff (22-23)
Partnerships
Food Education Fellows work alongside community, school and national partners. Through these partnerships, teachers create deeper impact through food for their students, their schools, and their communities. Examples of partnerships, which often endure even after the Fellowship are:
- Green City Market
- Baltimore City Public Schools, Great Kids Farm
- Wellness with Bella
- Gardeneers
- Grow Food Northampton
- Just Roots
- The Evolved Network
- Peach’s on 47th (pictured)
Fellows also have the opportunity to partner with a chef in their community to bring hands-on, relevant experiences to their students. WATCH Chef James Martin of Bocadillo Market lead a world history and spice lesson in for Pilot Light Fellow Rita Leary’s 7th & 8th grade students and READ our interview with Chef James and his educator partners to learn how they designed their partnerships!