by Katrina Schwartz
Students at several San Francisco high schools are learning what any
good farmer knows: it's not enough to grow food, you've also got to have
strong business skills. San Francisco Unified is betting on school-run
gardens to help teach entrepreneurship to kids heading into a competitive
summer job market.
Teens at John O’Connell and two other San Francisco high schools have been rolling out of bed early Saturday mornings to set up at the Ferry building. They are hawking crops they've been growing at school this year.
Teens at John O’Connell and two other San Francisco high schools have been rolling out of bed early Saturday mornings to set up at the Ferry building. They are hawking crops they've been growing at school this year.
Garden educator Calder Gillam has been teaching his students the
importance of customer service, which he thinks will help them get jobs
and be more self confident.
"The youth get to interact with the public here, answering questions
about the crops and what to do with them and what they’re good for and
how we grew them. Showing up at seven AM on a Saturday when they don't
have to be here, that's another job skill, life skill, really," said
Gillam.
The money students earn from their crops goes back into the gardening
program. The schools took turns selling produce at the Ferry Building.
John O'Connell students earned about $250, which they'll put back into
the program.
Students participating in John O'Connell's summer programs will also
get to keep an eye on their crops now that school is out, caring for the
garden until everyone returns in the fall.
The pilot project is funded by several urban agriculture organizations
in partnership with the San Francisco School District. The San Francisco Green Schoolyard Alliance, the Center for Urban Education on Sustainable Agriculture (CUESA) and Urban Sprouts will
have to continue fundraising to sustain the program. They'd like to
deepen their offerings at John O'Connell, June Jordan and Life Learning
Academy on Treasure Island by devoting an entire class to garden
education, rather than fitting it into other classes like Health and
Economics.
If the money materializes to help keep the program going, San
Francisco Unified says it will look at adding more schools to the
partnership. Already other San Francisco high schools have shown
interest in the garden program.
A similar program is underway in elementary schools in Half Moon Bay.