Internship: Seed to Table program at the Alameda Boys and Girls Club
DESCRIPTION: I interned at the Alameda Boys and Girls Club for the first four months of this year. My supervisor was Gretchen Doering. I helped out every Monday, starting with her Seed to Table class, which was a group of 7th-9th grade NEA students. I would assist a different group each week and make sure the kids were safe and on task. After the class was over, I would help wash dishes and aid Gretchen with whatever needed to be done, whether it was weeding, organizing, gardening, or documenting. It would be about 2 hours each week.
DAILY LOGS:
Tuesday, January 19th, 2016
First day on the job! My friend Nora and I came in today energized for our class of 3rd graders, not knowing what to expect. We had the first hour to prepare for the class, and we did so by customizing our own name tags and being shown around the office and garden more. I was glad to be with Nora, because I was kinda afraid going into something so new head first. So we went to fetch our children and oh boy, did they have energy! While Nora went to go aerate some muddy water with half the kids, Gretchen and I took the other half to teach them how to plant seeds. When we switched groups, Gretchen tested me and made me talk without much warning! I do pretty poorly in those situations, so I didn't do as well as I should have. Hopefully Gretchen will brush it off and give me another chance to prove myself. But overall, it was alright!
Monday, January 25th, 2016
We tried out the Monday class today so we can see who will take on each day. This class is called "Garden to Pan" and they focus a lot on cooking the food that they grow. Each week some of the kids cook something up for the whole class. It all wasn't too bad, but I think eighth grade is a strange age to deal with. They're not young enough for me to have enough authority over, but they're also old enough to communicate normally with. All I really did today was shovel dirt with some kids and my friend Justin, who was just finishing up his internship here too. It was nice to have someone to talk to (it's strange to make conversation with a bunch of kids you don't know who are already good friends with each other) especially since we had to dig around for an hour. The second half of today's session at the garden is the clean up time, so we all headed to the kitchen and did a lot of dishwashing. I don't mind doing tasks like that, so it was a good day.
Monday, February 1st, 2016
Well, all I really did today was shovel more dirt. But that's okay! I was in charge of a nice group of kids so we made this mindless task a lot more enjoyable! That's all we did during class time. We actually finished off the dirt pile that's been there for the whole year and folded up the giant tarps. We were rewarded with some cooked romanesco. I think I've only tried this vegetable once or twice before, but it was really good. We went to the kitchen to do lots of dishes again, and I had a nice chat with Gretchen as we worked. Afterwards, I took the class tablet to go around and take pictures of all the beds. I got to look around on the computer too and check out the previous photos and get a good sense of what was currently going on in the garden. It was all pretty new and cool for me, but it was kinda lonely going around taking pictures of a ton of vegetables by yourself for a while.
Tuesday, February 9th, 2016
Since I wasn't able to come to school yesterday, I decided to gain my lost hours by joining Nora on her day this week. Our first hour was devoted entirely to cleaning kale. But the catch... they were all infested with tiny aphids. I swear I saw thousands of those little guys today it was quite gross!! I used a power sprayer to rid these leaves of the bugs, but ended up getting very wet and bug covered in the process. Definitely not one of my best moments. After we got that over with, we spent the next hour with the third graders. It was my job to fill the watering cans as the kids watered, but they finished so quickly and I was overwhelmed because these kids wouldn't stop shoving watering cans into my face. It was a challenge though, so there's nothing wrong with that!
Tuesday, February 16th, 2016
I was only able to stay for the first half of today's shift, but it was one of my more pleasant days with my internship. Nora and I worked on creating seed labels. I got to use the photocopier and make copies of the seed packets and construct these labels. Nora got to use a laminating machine which was super neat! It was a nice social hour with Gretchen as well as we sat in the office and did our crafts. I got to also sort a bunch of seed packets, which is definitely something I enjoy. It was a laid back and relaxing day.
Monday, February 22nd, 2016.
I had the privilege of joining the same group as my shoveling days today. I really love their energy and they have the most interesting conversations! I showed them how to properly seed our new plants and we spent most of our time perfecting the process. We started some herbs and flowers, and the kids seemed to do a pretty good job at planting them correctly, so that was a plus. We recorded our crops and went to do some simple weeding until the food was ready. We were treated to some spring rolls, which were actually not bad! I've never been a fan of uncooked vegetables, but they seemed much better today. The second hour of my day was lots of dishwashing, followed by painting. I usually love painting, but it was so hot outside when I had to paint that bench! It turned out really nice though.
Monday, February 29th, 2016
Today I worked with a different group, and we started out by uprooting a few old kale plants. This one girl was trying to cut rolly pollies in half which freaked me out. When we were finished, we brought the vegetables to the cooking team and started planting some zucchini. The kids weren't too enthusiastic in this group, but maybe it was just the heat that got to them. We did some weeding afterwards, and enjoyed the homemade burritos one group had cooked. They were amazing!! After the kids left, we did the usual dish washing and went back out to the garden. Gretchen and I spent the rest of the hour washing out old plastic pots which were infested by many creepy crawlies (I really didn't enjoy that!). But it was a nice afternoon and I felt tired out and accomplished at the end of my day.
Monday, March 7th, 2016
Because it was raining all morning, we had our class inside today which provided a different experience. Luckily, I was put on the cooking team at last, and assisted my group with making pasta and swiss chard pesto. It was pretty difficult having four kids crammed into a tiny kitchen but the food turned out amazing. I wasn't able to see much of what else was happening at the time. When the period was over, I headed back to the actual kitchen to wash dishes per usual, and followed Gretchen out to the garden (it has stopped raining, but was still very damp and muddy) to do some weeding. Definitely not the cleanest job, but I learned that these giant bundles of weeds pop right out when they're soggy, so I'll have to use that technique when I have to work in my own garden at home.
Monday, March 14th, 2016
So glad I got to do cooking again today! Back to my first group I had, and we made barley and some swiss chard stir fry salad dish. I have to say, it's stressful watching the kids prepare the food. They are not good at washing the vegetables (but you can't blame them when they're only allowed to wash it all in one bucket, never changing the soon bug infested and dirty water... it's disgusting I wish we could just use the faucet) but I figured when it gets cooked, some of the germs will burn off. It was pretty good again, and there was a ton of extra so I got my lunch covered. When the kids left, Gretchen had me help her weed more and plant some artichokes in the beds. After washing the dishes of course. All in all, another very dirty day.
Monday, March 21st, 2016
I started out my day by doing a whole lot of mulching. With one group, we mulched one of the giant beds (which required lots of physical involvement for sure) so when I thought we were finally finished, it just turned out the kids got to move on to seed planting, while I took on a separate group of kids to help them mulch a bed of strawberries. I was tired so I just let them do all the physical work themselves, but they didn't do a wonderful job. Luckily soon we retired to go try the soup one group had been cooking up. They even cooked some bugs for the brave kids to try, but I hate everything buggy. Dishwashing after was a breeze, but as soon as we went back outside, it started pouring rain! So Gretchen and I did some reorganizing in the cluttered and dusty bunker. I think the highlight of my day was untangling a huge clump of string and retying it around a piece of metal (this is not sarcastic).
Tuesday, January 19th, 2016
First day on the job! My friend Nora and I came in today energized for our class of 3rd graders, not knowing what to expect. We had the first hour to prepare for the class, and we did so by customizing our own name tags and being shown around the office and garden more. I was glad to be with Nora, because I was kinda afraid going into something so new head first. So we went to fetch our children and oh boy, did they have energy! While Nora went to go aerate some muddy water with half the kids, Gretchen and I took the other half to teach them how to plant seeds. When we switched groups, Gretchen tested me and made me talk without much warning! I do pretty poorly in those situations, so I didn't do as well as I should have. Hopefully Gretchen will brush it off and give me another chance to prove myself. But overall, it was alright!
Monday, January 25th, 2016
We tried out the Monday class today so we can see who will take on each day. This class is called "Garden to Pan" and they focus a lot on cooking the food that they grow. Each week some of the kids cook something up for the whole class. It all wasn't too bad, but I think eighth grade is a strange age to deal with. They're not young enough for me to have enough authority over, but they're also old enough to communicate normally with. All I really did today was shovel dirt with some kids and my friend Justin, who was just finishing up his internship here too. It was nice to have someone to talk to (it's strange to make conversation with a bunch of kids you don't know who are already good friends with each other) especially since we had to dig around for an hour. The second half of today's session at the garden is the clean up time, so we all headed to the kitchen and did a lot of dishwashing. I don't mind doing tasks like that, so it was a good day.
Monday, February 1st, 2016
Well, all I really did today was shovel more dirt. But that's okay! I was in charge of a nice group of kids so we made this mindless task a lot more enjoyable! That's all we did during class time. We actually finished off the dirt pile that's been there for the whole year and folded up the giant tarps. We were rewarded with some cooked romanesco. I think I've only tried this vegetable once or twice before, but it was really good. We went to the kitchen to do lots of dishes again, and I had a nice chat with Gretchen as we worked. Afterwards, I took the class tablet to go around and take pictures of all the beds. I got to look around on the computer too and check out the previous photos and get a good sense of what was currently going on in the garden. It was all pretty new and cool for me, but it was kinda lonely going around taking pictures of a ton of vegetables by yourself for a while.
Tuesday, February 9th, 2016
Since I wasn't able to come to school yesterday, I decided to gain my lost hours by joining Nora on her day this week. Our first hour was devoted entirely to cleaning kale. But the catch... they were all infested with tiny aphids. I swear I saw thousands of those little guys today it was quite gross!! I used a power sprayer to rid these leaves of the bugs, but ended up getting very wet and bug covered in the process. Definitely not one of my best moments. After we got that over with, we spent the next hour with the third graders. It was my job to fill the watering cans as the kids watered, but they finished so quickly and I was overwhelmed because these kids wouldn't stop shoving watering cans into my face. It was a challenge though, so there's nothing wrong with that!
Tuesday, February 16th, 2016
I was only able to stay for the first half of today's shift, but it was one of my more pleasant days with my internship. Nora and I worked on creating seed labels. I got to use the photocopier and make copies of the seed packets and construct these labels. Nora got to use a laminating machine which was super neat! It was a nice social hour with Gretchen as well as we sat in the office and did our crafts. I got to also sort a bunch of seed packets, which is definitely something I enjoy. It was a laid back and relaxing day.
Monday, February 22nd, 2016.
I had the privilege of joining the same group as my shoveling days today. I really love their energy and they have the most interesting conversations! I showed them how to properly seed our new plants and we spent most of our time perfecting the process. We started some herbs and flowers, and the kids seemed to do a pretty good job at planting them correctly, so that was a plus. We recorded our crops and went to do some simple weeding until the food was ready. We were treated to some spring rolls, which were actually not bad! I've never been a fan of uncooked vegetables, but they seemed much better today. The second hour of my day was lots of dishwashing, followed by painting. I usually love painting, but it was so hot outside when I had to paint that bench! It turned out really nice though.
Monday, February 29th, 2016
Today I worked with a different group, and we started out by uprooting a few old kale plants. This one girl was trying to cut rolly pollies in half which freaked me out. When we were finished, we brought the vegetables to the cooking team and started planting some zucchini. The kids weren't too enthusiastic in this group, but maybe it was just the heat that got to them. We did some weeding afterwards, and enjoyed the homemade burritos one group had cooked. They were amazing!! After the kids left, we did the usual dish washing and went back out to the garden. Gretchen and I spent the rest of the hour washing out old plastic pots which were infested by many creepy crawlies (I really didn't enjoy that!). But it was a nice afternoon and I felt tired out and accomplished at the end of my day.
Monday, March 7th, 2016
Because it was raining all morning, we had our class inside today which provided a different experience. Luckily, I was put on the cooking team at last, and assisted my group with making pasta and swiss chard pesto. It was pretty difficult having four kids crammed into a tiny kitchen but the food turned out amazing. I wasn't able to see much of what else was happening at the time. When the period was over, I headed back to the actual kitchen to wash dishes per usual, and followed Gretchen out to the garden (it has stopped raining, but was still very damp and muddy) to do some weeding. Definitely not the cleanest job, but I learned that these giant bundles of weeds pop right out when they're soggy, so I'll have to use that technique when I have to work in my own garden at home.
Monday, March 14th, 2016
So glad I got to do cooking again today! Back to my first group I had, and we made barley and some swiss chard stir fry salad dish. I have to say, it's stressful watching the kids prepare the food. They are not good at washing the vegetables (but you can't blame them when they're only allowed to wash it all in one bucket, never changing the soon bug infested and dirty water... it's disgusting I wish we could just use the faucet) but I figured when it gets cooked, some of the germs will burn off. It was pretty good again, and there was a ton of extra so I got my lunch covered. When the kids left, Gretchen had me help her weed more and plant some artichokes in the beds. After washing the dishes of course. All in all, another very dirty day.
Monday, March 21st, 2016
I started out my day by doing a whole lot of mulching. With one group, we mulched one of the giant beds (which required lots of physical involvement for sure) so when I thought we were finally finished, it just turned out the kids got to move on to seed planting, while I took on a separate group of kids to help them mulch a bed of strawberries. I was tired so I just let them do all the physical work themselves, but they didn't do a wonderful job. Luckily soon we retired to go try the soup one group had been cooking up. They even cooked some bugs for the brave kids to try, but I hate everything buggy. Dishwashing after was a breeze, but as soon as we went back outside, it started pouring rain! So Gretchen and I did some reorganizing in the cluttered and dusty bunker. I think the highlight of my day was untangling a huge clump of string and retying it around a piece of metal (this is not sarcastic).
CLOSING REPORT: When I think about how I spent the last three and a half months working in this garden, it gives me mixed emotions. Don’t get me wrong, I did learn a lot and experience new things, but in a way I’m glad it’s over. I do have a fairly busy life and adding another task into the mix wasn’t easy for me, even though it was only a couple hours a week. However, I’m glad I took part in this organization, because it showed me the variety of hands-on activities you can do with kids to teach them important skills and valuable lessons. I really do believe the garden has a lot to offer and will continue to grow and plant seeds in the minds of children in order to help them grow as well.
All of my days were pretty similar: sign in, join the middle schoolers to await our tasks for the day, carry out these specified jobs, eat some vegetables, wash dishes, and weed the garden. There were little differentiations here and there, but still very routinely. Monotony in a job causes me to get bored really quickly, and my boredom leads to frustration. I need something new to deal with every day, and on a grander level than just seeding versus harvesting. So I admit there was a lack of mental stimulation for myself on most days, but you have to recognize that this course is meant for younger learners and I was just there as more of a supervisor. However I did learn some general things along with everyone else, like the names of wacky tools and how to aerate a plot of dirt, but nothing life changing of course. Because of that, I’d have to say my biggest “obstacle” was the lack of one. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any chances to be challenged or to put my skills to use.
Luckily, I did get the chance to put my leadership qualities and responsibility to use. I actually got my first real job around the same time as I started this, and both require a lot of social skills. So between the two, I know I have grown so much and I can communicate so much better with others, especially children. My leadership skills have improved greatly, which is really important since it’s a quality everyone needs and uses throughout their life. I am definitely grateful for that aspect, and knowing I’ve improved in these areas that used to be my greatest weaknesses gives me a lot of confidence with everything I do.
I never really had an initial expectation of the internship and I jumped in without thinking too much about it since I was running out of time and had so much trouble searching for an internship I know I would enjoy. It all happened pretty fast. I mean I did expect to do a lot more gardening (and in my mind, that includes planting seeds and watering them and watching them grow… not all the dirty stuff) and a lot more cooking. I really love cooking and I lot of the kids did too, but it just wasn’t possible for everyone to get a chance every week to join the cooking team which makes perfect sense. Maybe Gretchen should create a class for just culinary arts.
If I really think about it, the main reason fond memories don’t outweigh the negative ones is because I hate bugs with a burning passion and they ruin my life and I can’t get near anything other than a butterfly. That might have a lot to do with it.
All of my days were pretty similar: sign in, join the middle schoolers to await our tasks for the day, carry out these specified jobs, eat some vegetables, wash dishes, and weed the garden. There were little differentiations here and there, but still very routinely. Monotony in a job causes me to get bored really quickly, and my boredom leads to frustration. I need something new to deal with every day, and on a grander level than just seeding versus harvesting. So I admit there was a lack of mental stimulation for myself on most days, but you have to recognize that this course is meant for younger learners and I was just there as more of a supervisor. However I did learn some general things along with everyone else, like the names of wacky tools and how to aerate a plot of dirt, but nothing life changing of course. Because of that, I’d have to say my biggest “obstacle” was the lack of one. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any chances to be challenged or to put my skills to use.
Luckily, I did get the chance to put my leadership qualities and responsibility to use. I actually got my first real job around the same time as I started this, and both require a lot of social skills. So between the two, I know I have grown so much and I can communicate so much better with others, especially children. My leadership skills have improved greatly, which is really important since it’s a quality everyone needs and uses throughout their life. I am definitely grateful for that aspect, and knowing I’ve improved in these areas that used to be my greatest weaknesses gives me a lot of confidence with everything I do.
I never really had an initial expectation of the internship and I jumped in without thinking too much about it since I was running out of time and had so much trouble searching for an internship I know I would enjoy. It all happened pretty fast. I mean I did expect to do a lot more gardening (and in my mind, that includes planting seeds and watering them and watching them grow… not all the dirty stuff) and a lot more cooking. I really love cooking and I lot of the kids did too, but it just wasn’t possible for everyone to get a chance every week to join the cooking team which makes perfect sense. Maybe Gretchen should create a class for just culinary arts.
If I really think about it, the main reason fond memories don’t outweigh the negative ones is because I hate bugs with a burning passion and they ruin my life and I can’t get near anything other than a butterfly. That might have a lot to do with it.