Garden City High School French III, Biology and Computer Graphics students recently joined forces to create cheese products, completing everything involved in the process from making the cheese to fermentation to product packaging. Developed by science teacher Patricia Mannion, French teacher Jeannot Barr and art teacher Diane Veitch, the project began last year as an idea discussed during a lunchtime conversation.

Since late December through mid-January, the students worked together to create gouda, muenster, camembert and cheddar cheeses, and to design original packaging for their products. "The art students designed the packaging with the specifications provided by the French III students, as if the students were working for a client," commented art teacher Diane Veitch. "They developed two designs and then worked collaboratively with the French students to modify their labels and cheese containers."

On January 15th, the students gathered to view the project results and for a "tasting" of the cheeses they created. Additionally, the teachers purchased store-bought cheeses so the students could do side-by-side tastings of their product versus the manufactured brands. The results? Hands-down, the students preferred their "home-made" cheeses.

Pictured here are some of the high school students who participated in the cheese-making project holding examples of their original package designs.