Summer Growing

After one week of training and one week of regular programming, Summer Sprouts is currently in full swing. Summer Sprouts is a summer program for middle and high school students taught in collaboration with and hosted by Garden for the Environment. This year’s program is unique due to a high volume of returning students showing interest in leadership positions. We therefore decided to alter our program and create new roles in order to strengthen the relationships we have with returning students while incorporating new leaders into the dynamic. In previous years the summer program has consisted of high school students who lead small groups of middle school students through labs and activities. This year we’ve added a whole new tier, the Jr. Staff. The Jr. Staff are paired with a senior group leader whom they help lead the younger participants with. The changes have proven to be a great success. The new challenge of mentoring a Jr. Staff counterpart has pushed the senior staff to be even better, more proactive leaders. Creating the Jr. Staff position also serves the purpose of incubating students who have shown leadership potential and train for future roles as senior staff.