AmeriCorps Great Stories, from PLANTS Programs
by Clint Brinkley
During their year of service, AmeriCorps members are required to write Great Stories about their experiences. Clint's stories give us a look at the variety of opportunities available through CCUA's PLANTS programs.
After enough teaching experience, and it really doesn't take much, you'll start to notice how students best learn things. Now, every student is different, but one thing I've noticed throughout my time as an educator is how well students pick things up when they literally pick things up. The opportunity to explore things with your hands provides great educational opportunities. This can range from digging in the soil to building models. Recently an example made this abundantly clear to me. While teaching a lesson on seed dispersal methods there were more blank stares than I'd like, but after showing real examples like "helicopters" and dandelions I could see the connections starting to be formed. What really cemented the lesson was when the students got to work in small groups to build their own working seed dispersal models. It's those a-ha! moments that really help validate hands-on learning to me.
One of the most memorable moments I've had while serving this quarter was on Mayor's Day of Recognition of Service. Partly because of the recognition, but mostly because it was the first big lesson of Spring. After an entire winter of planning and waiting, it was great to be back "in the field" teaching children about the plant life cycle, gardening, and how that relates to the food on our plates and the people in our community. The students had a great time meeting prominent civil servants in our community and getting their hands dirty in the garden bed. They were able to plant peas, lettuce, kale, spinach, and other vegetables, and are eagerly awaiting the day they'll be able to harvest and eat them!
Every year a few motivated students in the Columbia, MO area get to participate in Camp Salsa. The idea of the program is to teach valuable business skills to young adults by having them create a business plan for a salsa company, then actually make and sell the salsa. Part of the program takes place at the Urban Farm. Every Wednesday the young entrepreneurs come out and learn what it takes to grow the ingredients for the salsa by planting the crops themselves. It's always a joy to work with this group because they're all so interested and engaged with what we're doing, whether that be learning about different pests on the farm or pulling weeds out of a row in preparation for planting something. One moment that made me particularly proud of them was the second time we planted a row with them. The first time we planted a row we set aside two hours to get it planted, and didn't quite finish everything. The second time we set aside two hours again, and they finished every part of it in just under an hour! We had to come up with another activity for them on the spot because they were so fast. I'm looking forward to working with them for the remainder of the program, and especially trying their salsa!
Every year, Broadway Christian Church has their vacation bible school partner with a group or organization around Columbia, MO. Luckily for us, this year they chose the Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture. For one week they came out for two and a half hours every morning to learn about food and do service work. While the lessons are always interactive and fun, the highlight of the experience for me was the Day of Service they did. On that day, we didn't do any formal lessons, just worked. We started out with a brief discussion on what service means. Not according to the dictionary, according to them. After a few heartwarming responses, we got to work. And I've never seen elementary schoolers work that hard for that long! In two hours we were able to pull out almost every weed from our outdoor classroom, as well as lay new mulch over the entire thing! And not once did I hear any complaining about the heat or being bored; Only a few questions about weeds, playful banter, and the occasional kid trying to sneak a cherry tomato or blackberry!
