Springing Forward: Growth, Recognition, and Hands-On Impact at Spark-Y

Spring has arrived, and with it, a fresh burst of energy at Spark-Y! From major recognitions to new school partnerships and a decade-strong internship program, we’re excited to share the momentum building in our community.

Spotlight on Leadership: Patrice Banks Earns Two Prestigious Awards

We’re thrilled to celebrate our very own Patrice Banks, Spark-Y Program Director, for receiving Finance & Commerce’s Rising Young Professionals Award this past December. She was also named one of Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal’s 40 Under 40—a tremendous honor that shines a light on her leadership, dedication, and impact both at Spark-Y and across the Twin Cities.

“I feel blessed to have been a blessing to the Spark-Y organization. Being of service is a personal value of mine that carries over into my day-to-day work,” says Patrice.

Reflecting on a year of growth and transformation, she adds: “As I look back on the year, I’m proud of the upgrades we’ve made across the team and our operations—and even more proud of the real impact we’ve made on our youth. We’re positioned for even greater things ahead.”

Congratulations, Patrice!

Program Spotlight: PYC Arts & Technology High School

This spring, we launched a new partnership with PYC Arts & Technology High School, offering students a chance to dive into sustainability through hands-on STEM learning. Led by Spark-Y STEM Educator Aaron McGuire, students spent five weeks building a fully functioning aquaponics system—a closed-loop ecosystem where fish and plants support each other’s growth.

Every Wednesday, students rolled up their sleeves, building, learning, and experimenting in real time. The project wrapped up with a field trip to our Northeast Minneapolis headquarters, where students showcased their system and celebrated their success

We’re proud of the creativity and commitment these young builders brought to the table—and excited for what’s next in this growing partnership!

Spark-Y Summer Internship: Cultivating Leaders for Over a Decade

Every summer Spark-Y hosts our summer internship and apprenticeship programs. The internship is a 6-week real-world, hands-on program designed for high school to college-aged youth to gain resume-building experience by executing sustainable projects throughout the Twin Cities. Youth from all over the country join us at our Northeast Minneapolis headquarters to learn, grow, and connect with industry experts, staff mentors, and a group of peers.

We also welcome apprentices, who bring their talents and interests to specialized focus areas like team leadership, curriculum development, STEAM education, and more. Apprenticeships offer deeper, tailored experiences to those looking to take their impact further.

Interested in joining us this summer? Keep an eye on our website and follow us on Instagram and Facebook—applications open soon!

Patrice 40 Under 40!

PYC aquaponics build

STEM Enrichment at Friendship Academy

The following blog post was written by Andrew Rubin Co-Teacher at Spark-Y’s partnership with Friendship Academy, a twice-per-week STEM Enrichment program for elementary youth.

We’ve been having a blast at Friendship Academy during our Enrichment Spark-Y class! While most students were interested in STEM and sustainability before signing up, our hands-on, team-building activities have made the young scholars even more fascinated with all things science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

It may come as no surprise that making slime - using chemistry to bond glue to an activator - was very, very popular. Taliyah S, 3rd grade, put it best when she said, “I loved making slime because it’s fun and we can do it as a group.” Other students agreed how important it was to work together, as well. Also, of course, they simply liked it because, “I’m not going to lie…I just wanted to play with it after we were done,” remarked Nhia M, 9 years old. That’s okay, too!

We were perhaps most impressed with the reasons why so many students wanted to try out new experiments, learn more about STEM, and gain more knowledge. Most spoke about the future, especially involving their families or communities. One such student was Kaben P., 3rd grade, who said, “ I want to be able to grow my own food and feed my family without going to the grocery store.” Noel T, took it one step further by including the entire planet, “I liked learning about plants because they help the Earth and I really want to help the Earth, too.” That’s one of our goals, too! He later added, “I want to get really smart so I can do well in college.”

Whether it was water testing, engineering a bridge with popsicle sticks, creating crystals, or building marshmallow catapults, we had so much joy working together and learning. Taliyah S eloquently stated, “It’s very noisy but it’s really fun for creative and artistic kids. We can take turns.”

We look forward to building our very own aquaponics system in the classroom and sharing our adventures with you! 

Friendship Build with Right Track +

About the Spark-Y Right Track+ Internship: The Right Track+ program is a collaboration between Ramsey County, the City of Saint Paul, local employers, and community organizations including Spark-Y. The goal of this program is to provide job training and professional development to unemployed or underemployed young adults experiencing the negative economic impacts of the pandemic for the purpose of assisting them in entering an in-demand career pathway.

The following post was written by Chue Yang, Right Track+ Intern with Spark-Y.

Friendship Build with Right Track +

Near the end of August, Spark-Y teamed up with some volunteers from Accenture to help build a raised bed and compost bin for Friendship Academy of Arts. I have been an intern with Spark-Y for a couple of months now and each week there were always exciting new projects for the interns to work on. There was the hope that it will not rain, as I helped the Sustainability and Agriculture Director, Caitlin, set up two large white tents for the compost bin and raised garden bed projects. 

The day before, I had to grab a large 50 gallons water barrel from the University of Minnesota which barely fit in my little Prius for the project build. Spark-Y continued to find ways to reuse old and donated materials to create sustainable projects that are closely tied to its mission of empowering youth with hands-on education and sustainability.

As we prepared the materials and started to cut the wood pieces for the two projects, Accenture volunteers and the students at Friendship Academy of Art began to show up. Students take turns drilling holes and screwing the wood pieces together. The Accenture volunteers were great at leading and guiding the students. The structures for holding the compost bin and the raised garden bed started to take their form. The feeling of seeing the two projects coming together brought smiles both to the adults and small students.

Compost Bin Structure & Raised Garden Bed Project Build

It was such as cool experience to see the little shy students, who were a little scared of the loud noise of the saws and drills at first, started to want to take turns cutting and putting the wood pieces together for the compost bin and raised garden bed structure. One student proudly expressed that she “loved drill” as she finished screwing the last few screws for the structures that would hold the compost bin. A little student who was probably still in preschool bravely volunteered to drill some holes into the water barrel that will be used as the compost bin. It brought a smile to my face seeing how much joy the students were having with the project build.

Completing the two projects took less than three hours with the help of the students and volunteers. This experience made me realize how important it is to work together as a team. It showed that more students should have the opportunity to learn about sustainability. They learned not only the importance of creating a compost bin that will turn food waste and old plant materials into compost to grow more food but also got to try something new. I also noticed that not many organizations would have their staff with executive positions working on the ground to help students learn. It just showed how much Spark-Y cared about the learning of youth and creating growth through sustainability.

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Learn more about Friendship Academy Build Day in our previous blog post here.