Hello! I’m Georgia, a rising junior studying biology, education, and environmental science. I’ve lived my whole life in Portland, and when I’m not working I do improv comedy. But let me tell you about what you have come here for, my wonderful job at the Serendipity Center!
They’re a therapeutic school that provides an alternative education plan to at risk students. Serendipity’s four cornerstone goals to establish for the students in the school setting are: mental health, transition, education, and wellness. More information about this can be found on their website: http://www.serendipitycenter.org . Within the curriculum is what’s called the Growing Minds Garden Program, which takes place in a spacious garden and farm area for students to explore ecology, see seeds they planted grow and eventually be harvested, or even just use the space to take a break in instead of turning to electronics. This outdoor classroom is where I have been spending the vast majority of my time.
On what we call the happenstance “disregulated” days, there is higher energy among the students and a reluctance among them to remain on task in class. Of course, these classes also take place in the messy and distracting outdoors, so it is to be expected that there will be hiccups along the way. On one of these days, some elementary students were planting eggplants, so the instructor set the students at stations and started a demonstration of how to best dig a hole and plant in it. Very quickly, many of the students stopped paying attention, and some began doing destructive things. Among the bustle, one student seemed to be fidgeting with his trowel and flinging some dirt around him. A staff member saw this and asked the student to be careful, but he continued to stab at the dirt. Then the student accidentally snapped his plant in half through the stem, and proceeded to panic. I didn’t hesitate for another staff to come settle the situation. I remember being very calm in answering his anxious questions of whether it was dead, whether I was “mad at him”, or if he was in trouble. I said to him, “I know you didn’t do it on purpose, but I am going to teach you how to fix it”. In my head I doubted that it would survive, but I had the student try again at planting it and using the tool properly. He agreed to be more careful next time, and the other students had already begun to settle down. I felt empowered to be able to be proactive with negativity all around me and to use that moment for teaching. In addition, that eggplant is currently doing just fine.
Out of this program I have hoped to achieve a few specific things among many broad things (such as do acts of service for social justice or undergo professional development) that I have already seen growth in. One example has been my goal to manage at least one project of my own idea and effect. The idea of cleaning and organizing the shipping container used as the garden shed came up during the first week, if not day one. With help, I have since turned the dusty box of various garden supplies into an efficient trove that rivals the garden section of an Ace hardware. In my time at Serendipity, I hope that I will have many more positive impacts as I continue to put much care into how I help.
That’s all for now from the garden! -Georgia