Description
During the internship entitled Growing Healthy Food, People and Community – Field Studies as GRuB, the student will engage in multiple facets of the non-profit organization GRuB, or Garden Raised Bounty. As a part of the Field Trip team, the student will lead and facilitate outdoor programming for youth and develop workshop curriculum in concert with Seed to Table. In an effort to learn the GRuB School Model, the student will attend The Institute, part of GRuB’s Pollinator programming, designed to share in depth information into youth engagement, program design, and more. The student will read and reflect on GRuB’s Cultivation Youth Program Manual, Schoolyard-Enhanced Learning and other source materials. Looking into community building, the student will work along side volunteers and interns on the farm and facilitate backyard garden builds through the Victory Garden Project (VGP). An e-portfolio equipped with map, photo gallery, bibliography and blog will be maintained by the student throughout the quarter and a final paper will be submitted to the faculty.
| Learning Objectives | Activities | Deliverables |
| To learn and practice environmental education and develop skills for working with youth. | I will be leading farm tours, workshops, games and activities for participants in the field trip, as well as supporting the GRuB school youth in leading these same activities. I will inform these activities with readings from multiple texts that the GRuB school is based on or draws from. | For each of the three youth rotations I will write a reflection and include it in my e-portfolio. |
| To learn about community building in the context of gardening. | Once a week I will be assisting the VGP as a lead builder, organizing teams of volunteers and engaging with and supporting community members. | I will write a post in my e-portfolio on the VGP. |
| To learn about farming practices, farm management, and CSAs. | Once a week I will assist on the farm during volunteer hours, and perhaps on other occasions as needed. | I will write multiple blog posts on the progress of the farm and my role there in over the course of the spring. |
| To learn and practice curriculum development and synthesis for outdoor education programs. | I will be reading through GRuB’s field trip curriculum to organize, consolidate, and merge it with new incoming programming from Seed to Table. | I will provide samples of the curriculum we develop and write a reflection on the process and my learning development there in to be included in my blog. |
| To learn the GRuB school model. | I will attend The Institute and weekend workshops when available, and meet with various GRuB staff and/or board members to collect interviews reflecting on GRuB’s development. | I will post interview summaries to my blog and write a 5-10 page reflection on my learning experiences over the quarter with emphasis on The Institute. |
| To connect the above learning objectives to a global perspective of food systems and commodification processes. | I will read The Lives of Animals and several of the foodfirst.org publications, and write pre-seminar papers comparing them to Who Really Feeds the World. | My sponsor will evaluate my writing, to be posted to my e-portfolio, and my in-class participation in seminar. |
The student will complete all assignments as described on the syllabus, as adjusted and agreed upon by student and faculty, including weekly documentation on the Project pages of the SOS program website. Because the student’s in-program ILC project requires–or would benefit from–a field supervisor (required for internships), subcontractor (required for upper division science credit), or mentor, the student will provide the faculty with a field supervisor, subcontractor, or mentor’s descriptive assessment of in-program ILC work completed with their guidance, expertise, or supervision by Thursday noon of week 10. This assessment should be discussed between the student and the field supervisor, subcontractor, or mentor, then provided on profession letterhead or email with current contact information directly to the faculty through email < williasa@evergreen.edu >. The student will complete comprehensive mid-quarter and final narrative self-evaluations and submit them to faculty prior to mid-quarter and final end of quarter student-faculty conferences. For the final documentation on Project pages, each student will post, and present in class on Tuesday or Wednesday of week 10, a 10-minute PowerPoint Presentation of 10-15 slides with text that demonstrates the highlights of the student’s in-program ILC Project. As a “best of the student’s Project pages,” this presentation will not be about the creation of new material, but rather the final PPT-based presentation will assemble and tell the story of existing material regarding the student’s SOS in-program ILC project.
Faculty Support
The faculty and student will communicate by email as needed, and the student will attend drop in office hours or class checkins at least twice in the quarter to update on progress of internship. They will also meet for a mid quarter evaluation and final evaluation. The faculty will evaluate the students e-portfolio and final paper due week 9. The field supervisor will maintain an open dialog about students progress as they see fit, and will conduct an initial and exit interview.
Related Experience
This internship is working primarily with the Field Trip Program of GRuB. My experience in the realm of education includes a high school program called Future Educators of America, in which I was partnered with a second grade class, as the assistant teacher for a semester, and training with the Chintimini Wildlife Education Program for a year, doing environmental outreach. I have also interned with GRuB last year as a Lead Builder for the Kitchen Garden Project, now the Victory Garden Project.
Mid Quarter Self-Evaluation
As a .doc file for feedback: Mid Quarter Self-Eval
As a PDF to see intended format as journal entry: Mid Quarter Self-Eval
(A note to readers: This self-evaluation narrative was written as a stream-of-consciousness, unedited, personal journal entry. The formatting, font, and stylizations have not come through to the WordPress site. I recommend viewing it in the PDF file directly above to get the full impact of the presentation. Thank you!)
May 2nd, 2017
What an interesting, thoughtful day. I met with my SOS class today for my mid-quarter check-in / seminar, as Sarah and I agreed upon a few weeks ago. I have been reading this book called, the Lives of Animals, by John Coetzee (i may be spelling that wrong, is it even John?), which i found to be honestly hard to follow and really lofty, theoretical, and a bit beyond my philosophical aptitude. I did adjust and start to understand more into the depths of it, beyond the actual written word, a ways into it. Writing the pre-seminar paper, helped to pinpoint pieces of the hidden messages in the book, but it wasn’t really until class that I broke through the barrier of what this book is really about?, and how it actually applies to our class?
When hearing of our mid quarter evaluation assignment, and having a discussion thereover in class, learning of the creative freedoms we were encouraged to explore, as well as discussing the text and its relation to commodification processes and alternatives, it sparked the thought seed in me of my main take away from the Roots and Shoots trainings i did at GRuB last year. This idea that Where during this time of a serious need for activism and community work, how that actually unfolds for an individual, may look extremely different. Where some may drop everything to gather supplies and funds for Standing Rock, and commit a week or month or season to Standing with them, being present as an ally and witness. Or to another, it may be engaging in local politics. For me it was the recognition of my deep rooted need for personal work, for inner work. Stoking my inner fire. Striving to find inner peace, purpose, and strength.
And this was welcomed and honored at GRuB.
And it encouraged me to reinvigorate that personal practice.
Now, almost a year later, I notice within myself an incredible personal transformation. My mental and emotional states are no longer fluctuating to such extremes, I have weathered some intense family emergencies, deaths, and weddings, and managed to heal relationships and old wounds in the process. I have really stepped up my self care game, which will never stop being vitally important to my health and happiness, and made major phycological steps of reflection, acceptance, release and growth. While my body is still holding fast to trauma, stress, injury and pathogens, I am steadied and supported by my community of healers i’ve gathered over the last year. All this, AND I managed to get myself back into school after 4 years, and countless obstacles.
So here I am, back at GRuB, this time for credit, still significantly focused on my personal work I committed to a year ago.
All that to make the point that — when Coetzee (or Costello) says, “John, I don’t know what I wan’t to do. I just don’t want to sit silent.” in response to John’s question, “Do you really think poetry classes will close down the slaughterhouses?” In my opinion the answer is no (as is Costello’s) because frankly, the actions of one human aren’t going to solve the worlds problems on there own. That’s not to say I also firmly believe that each individual’s actions have a unknowingly huge impact on the fluctuations of any given situation. It is the culmination, the combined force, of these individual acts that enacts change and progress (in either direction). So, to make that change that we all (general blanket statement alert) so desperately want to see, it is not a matter of finding THE solution to War or Racism or Food Deserts. Instead, as i see it, it’s about directing your passion in a way that brings you true joy and sustenance,and trusting that the work you are doing for yourself and your community is making a lasting impact on the world.
And that’s just it That is how i view my internship at GRuB. I may not be “ending hunger”but i am undoubtedly adding my flame to the fire. By plugging in, with my educational goals and roles, by putting in hours to rewrite curriculum and rebuild the field trip program, i am making a difference— one that is felt by myself, by the GRuB community, by the youth and visitors, and depending on how they applied what they learned in their futures, the ripple goes on and on.
My words of encouragement for myself and anyone else who may be reading this, is this:
know yourself, know your worth, keep centered and present in yourself and your work will flow out as naturally as the river courses through the mountainside to the sea. And yes, you are making a difference, what you’re doing (or not doing) matters!
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