Robin Forte, Island Grown Schools’ Harvest of the Month guest chef for the Edgartown School, moved through the lunch room with a tray of asparagus roll-ups for students to try. As she moved from table to table she saw a pattern emerging, one that has become familiar through the course of this first year of our Harvest of the Month program. The children at first would politely say “No, thank you” to the taste test. Then one student would venture, “I’ll try it,” and then each person in turn around the table would say the same thing.

The Edgartown School will begin a pilot enrichment program next year aimed at students working at advanced levels in math — a program that, if successful, could be adopted by other Island schools.

The local school committee voted last week in favor of a one-year trial of a fifth through eighth grade enrichment program in response to requests from parents about meeting the needs of high-ability math students.