SUMMER 2021 YOUTH INTERNSHIP PROGRAM – WEEK 5: REFLECTIONS ON INITIATIVE

We are now into the second half of the summer Youth Internship Program! Some highlights from this week include:

Lunch at Taco Boy and giving toasts to celebrate the midpoint of the internship
A virtual discussion with Kindall from Vertical Roots about hydroponics and how sustainability and technology can intersect in farming
A presentation on the Lowcountry Lowline, where Scott, Friends of the Lowline Board Member, talked about the visions for the Lowline and how the green space will connect communities together and promote health and wellness for Charleston citizens
A field trip to Fresh Future Farm, where we learned about food apartheid and how her farm and grocery store help sustain her community
Wellness lessons with Emma on conflict resolution/management and well-roundedness
A garden-inspired art session led by JP, one of our returning interns
Another field trip to Bees Ferry Compost Facility to learn about waste management on a larger scale and the importance of diverting food waste from the landfill

Amidst new learning, wonderful guests, field trips, and celebrations, our interns also spent Week 5 reflecting on initiative. Check out what our Intern of the Week, Piper, had to say about initiative, along with additional reflections and insights from her fellow interns.

BIO

Piper is a rising sophomore at James Island Charter High School. She likes to hang out with her friends and family and she volunteers at Amor Healing Kitchen. Her favorite thing about Green Heart is going to different schools and making them look beautiful.

REFLECTING ON INITIATIVE

“Taking initiative is a critical skill you need to help bring about change because sometimes people need to just stand up and take charge. Sometimes in a group everyone is too scared to stand up and say something about how they feel about their community. Only one person needs to have initiative and stand up and a lot of times the others will follow and the change can happen. If you want a systematic change then you have to have initiative and commitment. It isn’t going to take a day to create a lasting change in a system. For example if you wanted to decrease the amount of pollution that food systems create you would have to find where all the pollution is coming from. And then you have to figure out a way to keep the food system going but also limit the amount of pollution created. When thinking about how big the project is going to be people might get scared and back off but if you have initiative then you’ll get up and do it.”

ADDITIONAL REFLECTIONS & INSIGHTS ON INITIATIVE

“Initiative is the will to complete a task (no matter the intensity) without asking and to help an overall vision. Throughout this internship, initiative has been a present soft skill from day one.” – Michelle

“A time I took initiative was during my art lesson. I’m going to be mostly leading it myself with the help of [my Crew Leader,] Jack, but it’s mainly going to be me making the calls. If I hadn’t taken the initiative and agreed to do this lesson I would have been free of the anxiety but I would have lost so much more. Just watching everyone paint was an amazing experience.” – JP

“I’m glad that I took the initiative to respectfully inquire about those difficult topics so the rest of the interns and I could get the full picture of vertical farming and imagine solutions for the issues that we now knew existed. In my opinion, this initiative to be curious is essential to bringing positive change on the highest levels, since a problem cannot begin to be solved until all the root causes and nuances are acknowledged.” – Leddy

“Creating change in a society or community crucially needs initiative… I can commit to bringing change through taking initiative and joining others organizations that have similar goals as me to create a more unified society, allowing our goal to become more achievable.” – Alma