Grow your own empowerment!

I have been feeling a little lost in my service learning project at Sunny Brae Middle School because while I’m making connections with the kids, I do not feel like I’m making an impact on them like I was imagining. I originally chose this project because I wanted to facilitate activities which promote critical thinking and empowerment of the mind and body, however that is easier said than done. After seeing Ron Finley come and talk last week about how successful community gardens are at teaching youth about sustainability, nutrition, and overall better mental health I have decided that I would like to focus on creating a garden on their campus. After inquiring about the garden that used to be on campus, I soon found out that they shut down their old garden because of lack of support and funding to keep it running. I know would like to spend the rest of my time in this program researching how to apply for grants and how to run a successful garden in hopes of leaving the children with an outlet to grow physically and metaphorically and to empower them to take action in their own lives. As Nick Montgomery and carla bergman empain in Joyful Militancy, “When people come into contact with their own power- with their capacity to participate in something life-giving- they often become more militant. “Militancy” is a loaded word for some evoking images of machismo and militarism. For us, militancy means combativeness and a willingness to fight, but fighting might look like a lot of different things.” I believe that giving them a garden will allow the kids an opportunity to be a part of something life giving and to give them the power to fight for the life that they wish to have.