Community Education Internship Team: Learn, Grow & Share

Spark-Y’s summer internship program provides hands-on engagement opportunities for High School students where they can experience and learn about sustainability, professionalism, and teamwork under the mentorship of Spark-Y Apprentices and full time staff. In the beginning of July this summer, our group came together to form the Community Education team. Our team members include Chue, our Sustainability Educator, Sam, our Sustainability apprentice, and Jaylah, Joe, Sebastian and Oliver, our Sustainability Interns. We have been working together on multiple projects such as the Mobile Innovation Lab (The Beast), the greenhouse at Roosevelt High School, and several activities centered in professional development. We want to share some of our experiences with you in this post!

The Mobile Innovation Lab, known to many students as The Beast, started out as an innovative way to take learning directly to many students in North Minneapolis. It combats the disparities and lack of accessibility that many students experienced during Covid. This summer, we, as the community education team, mobilized our team strength into supporting this amazing mobile learning bus. Joe, Jaylah, and Chue supported the Beast on the ground as a team by engaging and supporting over 60 students as they learned about coding, drones, and the scientific method. As the on the ground team, each day is a new and exciting experience. From doing pushups and sit ups as robotic drones following the codes that students wrote to watching students design and give animate life to an orange cat using the Scratch coding program, there is never a boring day on The Beast. As the capacity of The Beast is limited to 15 people, three members of our team find other outlets for supporting the Beast. Sam, Sebastian, and Oliver work on preparing for the next mobile innovation learning modules. Their continuous effort on creating material lists and activity guides has helped to prepare Spark-Y for future fun on the bus. Through our work on The Beast, we have all learned a lot about education, supervision, and project planning.

Spark-Y has partnered with Roosevelt High School since 2013, and our team responsibility this summer is to maintain and upkeep the greenhouse in front of Roosevelt High School. The purpose of the greenhouse is to provide a space for growing nutritious foods for the school and community. For the greenhouse, our team focused on improving the depleted soil in the greenhouse plant beds. One thing we did to improve the soil was take compost and put it in the two plant beds. As a team, we created a garden layout of all of the plants that are going to be planted in the greenhouse. We also designed a trellis that is going to be built and put in the green house for the cucumbers and beans that need a structure to climb on. To design the trellis, we first did some research on what other effective trellises look like. We then took inventory of the materials we had on hand. Individually, we all came up with our own designs, and then we each presented our ideas to the rest of the group. We were able to discuss the pros and cons of each design and work as a team to incorporate the best aspects of each idea into our best final design. Some other garden work that we did as a team also included removing weeds at Friendship Academy and helping maintain their gardens. We hope that all the work we do this summer will benefit Roosevelt and others in the community for the future to come. We also hope that the plants will grow in the greenhouse without any of the thrip problems that previously affected the greenhouse. 

Another notable event that the entire Spark-Y team had an opportunity to participate in was several professional development days, where several guest speakers, including Spark-Y’s own Executive Director Zach Robinson, helped us improve our conflict resolution skills, write better resumes and emails, and hone our leadership and communication ability. Through these engaging sessions, our group was able to think more deeply about potential future career paths as well as cultivating our own character so that we may thrive. A large part of these presentations was a myriad of hands-on activities, including a survey to determine potential career paths, a quiz to attempt to point out aspects of a professional inter-team message, and an activity consisting of sorting problems that a team might have into what exact issue was being faced. The last of these was especially effective, as we completed it in several randomly assembled smaller teams, letting us focus more on our individual inquiries about how to resolve these potential occurrences with people who we have worked with less than our focused team groups. Overall, these speakers and the activities they brought with them were an excellent opportunity, and we are glad they came to share their knowledge and help us succeed.

During our internship most of the time was spent on working in a group to meet a goal or get a project done, giving us plenty of opportunities to increase our ability to lead and work as a team. As a team we all had a great time working with each other and expressing our creativity through the projects that we work on, using new experiences as a conduit to come together, learn to work with one another, and create something based on a plan the team had formulated. As the summer continues, we hope that our group can continue to contribute to the community around us through these projects, and keep learning about how to improve both ourselves and the world around us.

Fish Friends Relocation Project

The following blog post was written by Ryland Sorensen,
Spark-Y Sustainable Systems Coordinator.

No fish were harmed in the creation of this blog.

This pandemic has brought many unprecedented outcomes and has left some people jobless, feeling vulnerable, and feeling scared. It’s important to remember our resiliency and to not give up when times get hard. We can come together and help each other, especially those who can’t help themselves. If this pandemic has taught me anything it’s that caring for other people and creatures really helps with the bad feelings that come with scary times like this.

At Spark-Y we focus on hands-on education with an emphasis on sustainability, and we use aquaponics as a learning tool. Aquaponics facilitates a symbiotic relationship between fish and plants. In simple terms, fish waste in the water feeds the plants and clean water is returned to the fish. It’s a great way to grow fresh produce all year long.

When you heard that schools were closing you probably didn’t consider all the classroom pets that might be affected. Who will feed all the classroom turtles, guinea pigs, and fish? Their human friends won’t be around to feed them or keep them company. Luckily for them they have a place to go, and some lucky people will have a new friend to care for and to take their minds off things during this time of uncertainty. When I found out that the fish might be locked in schools without anyone to take care of them I knew I had to move quickly.

Working for an organization that uses fish as a learning tool is great, you feed the fish, you talk to the fish, and they become your little buddies. I think about them a lot. I wonder about things like, do they like their food? Are they being bullied by the bigger fish? I never thought one day I would be scrambling around the Twin Cities and beyond to try and rescue fish from being stuck in schools due to a virus.

Mini aquaponics systems at Crossroads Elementary.

On Monday morning rules for school closings were changing by the hour. There was talk of schools closing and it was unknown whether we would have access to take care of the fish. Luckily, Edison High School allowed Spark-Y to use the garage to relocate fish from other schools. Other schools were understandably very strict and we were told we would have to move our fish by the end of the day Tuesday or risk fish death. Schools are expected to remain closed for 3 weeks and possibly longer. We had to act fast to collect about 100 fish from seven different schools in less than two days.

Edison High School aqauponics system

I reached out to everyone who needed help relocating. Our goal was to save the fish! We not only needed to make sure they ended up in safe temporary homes, but also save as many plants as we could and to make sure that our systems were put on pause and ready to be put back to work when the coast was clear. That evening we collected all the buckets and supplies needed to relocate all the fish. Everyone was ready for the big move.

Listening to NPR on the way to the schools Tuesday morning set a tone of doom and gloom despite the sunny weather. Our first stop was Roosevelt High School where we needed to move the 15 koi to Edison. This is just one story out of many fish that had their lives totally rearranged that day.

Every school I arrived at had a similar atmosphere. Students and parents were lining up to take home lunches and school supplies. With buckets in hand, I walked past happy students and concerned parents. Staff cautiously waved me along and the custodians waved goodbye to the fish.

I used a net to carefully put the fish in their travel buckets and hauled them to my truck.

The fish were buckled up and rushed to join the rest of their relocated fish friends. On the way there one feisty bluegill jumped out of the bucket and onto the car seat. I pulled over on the side of the highway and quickly grabbed the flopping fish and put them back in the bucket. *phew*

Leaving the systems behind was a bit dreary. Pumps, filters and aerators were unplugged and the buzz of the filters ceased. The drips and dribbles of water that liven the otherwise quiet corners of the schools slowly faded. When I got back to Edison the garage had been transformed into an aquarium, bustling with the sounds of splashing water and the humm of the pumps. It was a happy moment on a gloomy day. I was very proud to see that all my co-workers were working really hard to save all the fish and to make sure they had everything they needed to get through the transition. I can’t wait to return the fish back to their homes and to see all the lovely people we work with again.

Don’t forget to be nice to each other.

A Summer of Sustainability at Roosevelt

The following blog post was written by Nurfadila Khairunnisa, Keriann Cooper, Olya Noyes, and Tunger Hong on their 2019 internship project at Roosevelt Urban Farm (RUF ).

This summer, the Roosevelt Urban farm (RUF) team is taking on big projects for the students and community members at Roosevelt High School. Roosevelt is located in South Minneapolis, just a couple blocks north of Lake Nokomis. During the school year, Roosevelt offers an Urban Farming class that works on and takes care of the aquaponics system and the outdoor garden in collaboration with Spark-Y. This is all part of Roosevelt principal, Principal Bradley’s initiative to make his school “made by the students.” Two of Spark Y’s interns in the RUF team this summer, Olya and Keriann, are also students in the Urban Farming class during the school year!

As our biggest project, our team will build a hoop house on school grounds for students to be able to grow plants all year long. A hoop house acts very similarly to a greenhouse but with better ventilation. It is made by hoops made of PVC which are placed in a row and covered by greenhouse plastic. They should be placed in a location with good soil and in an area open to sunlight. Some benefits of having a hoop house include helping extend growth season by up to four months, holding in heat, being easy to relocate and move around, holding in moisture which is good for the soil, and much more.

So far, we have not started on the hoop house since we’ve only gathered all of our material last week. We hope to get started on it this week and to have it done as soon as we can.

Another one of our projects is to reorganize the aquaponics classroom that students use during the school year. We are getting help from an interior designer named Ilana, who is a friend of our team lead, Matt. In the first picture, you can see how the room currently looks like after moving around some of the big tables and cleaning up the area. It isn’t how we want it to look like just yet but looks a lot better than how it looked when we first stepped into the room!

The classroom following interior design changes.

Here are some things that our interns at Roosevelt have to say:

Tunger: "I am most excited about doing some changes to the aquaponics room and building the hoop house. Our project at Roosevelt is important to me because helping out the community is always a good thing and gives a feeling of accomplishment once finishing the project."

Keriann: "Working on Roosevelt's food systems has empowered me to start my own sustainable garden. I have a good feeling that our aquaponics system and new hoop house will also excite future Roosevelt students to engage in sustainability."

Sparking Curiosity at Roosevelt

The following blog post was written by Matthew Kolasny, Sustainability Educator AmeriCorps.

Matthew Kolasny at Roosevelt’s indoor aquaponics system.

At Roosevelt High School in South Minneapolis, I have the honor of participating in and helping lead a daily high school course that exposes students to principles of sustainability, entrepreneurship, and environmental justice through urban farming. Our class is different from most I’ve known before. Our students, neither bound to a single classroom nor reducible to their performance on a final exam, help care for the sustainable systems Roosevelt Urban Farm (RUF) has in place. These include several aquaponics systems and outdoor growing spaces, equipped with raised beds and a greenhouse, where we produce food for our school’s cafeteria, not to mention a couple vermicomposting towers which help produce fertilizer for our farm. Our class encourages students to participate and interact with one another, to follow their natural curiosities, and to take part in the design and direction of the course. RUF broadens students' views of what “class” can be and encourages them to consider learning as a living, interactive process.

Roosevelt youth harvesting produce from their raised beds.

In a daily high school program, it doesn't take all that long to list the environmental benefits of aquaponics or recite the 5Es of sustainability, counting them off one by one on our fingers. Eventually, we've got to find more to talk about, and while a considerable amount of our time is spent tending to our farm, we have also studied plant and seed biology, native and indigenous farming practices and values, and labor issues amongst farm and food service workers. In my role, I try to continuously emphasize that sustainability is not measured only by how many gallons of water we save or how many pounds of waste we eliminate. Sustainability is a way of viewing and behaving in the world which acknowledges limitations and asks us how we can thrive in recognition of them. Because of this, I encourage the students I work with to consider all of what we do and study in a context of sustainability, guiding our thoughts and reactions to what we learn. We have found that there are opportunities to think and act sustainably all around us.

Aquaponics has proven to be a fascinating learning tool through which we have considered these ideas. As winter drags onwards and the icicles outside our greenhouse windows seem only to grow longer, students are drawn to the warm space lush with green plants and the rippling sound of water moving in peace. Our aquaponics space is entirely separate from our everyday classroom, not even on the same floor of the building. In a typical week, we only visit the space once or twice. After learning about the fundamental biological processes at hand, however, and learning that aquaponic structures can be scaled to almost any size the designer is willing to work toward, our students’ question was simple:

“Why don’t we have a system in our classroom?”

After that, we built two.

Utilizing some of Spark-Y’s designs and equipment and with fish tanks we were able to acquire from the school district we built two, ten-gallon aquaponic systems which have now been cycled and planted with Roosevelt heirloom cilantro, seeds recovered and saved by last year’s students and started by this year’s.

When students have the opportunity to test their skills and interests in areas many of them have previously not ventured into, they ask questions and make observations in ways that have previously not occurred to them. Why else should a bunch of teenagers from the city care enough to learn about farming or aquaponics? To me, the answer is not necessarily about creating the next generation of sustainable farmers. Instead, I believe it’s about helping students activate their natural capacities, their curiosities to problem-solve and innovate. The moments in which I myself feel most empowered are those when I am able to connect with students somehow, when I'm able to get them to smile and take interest in what we are learning, and when they treat me as though it is worth it to them to have me and our class in their lives. They want to know what we can do to help them today before they care about how we are here to save the world tomorrow. My work with these students has shown me that once we are able to show this kind of commitment to them, they are more likely to extend that commitment to others and to the world around them.