My first week of the Cultivating Community program was very exciting. This year, the group is 12 teens ages 14-18. Four of them had participated in the program last year and all the others are new. As most of the students did not know each other, they were quite shy and quiet. They only wanted to be on their phones and were not speaking with each other. They even came up with a “One AirPod Rule” to be listening to music during the day. A unique aspect of this program is that the teens get a stipend for participating. This is to mimic a work environment and adds to the ‘employment education’ aspect of the program. It shocked me that the youth expected to have headphones in while in a work environment. On my pre-survey, one student even noted that he and his friends don’t hang out they just “call, text and play video games.” I believe this demonstrates how heavily this generation was impacted by the COVID pandemic. They got sent home during middle school and suffered extreme social challenges during a crucial developmental period. I’m convinced the rise of social media and technology also heavily contributed to this. However, as the week progressed, the kids warmed up more and began to connect with each other. I believe spending time outside was a major contributor to this progress.
An interesting pattern I noticed is that many of the students seem to be focused on maintaining a clean appearance. They don’t like getting their clothes dirty, use many napkins while eating, frequently wash their hands and like their hair to be clean and done well. One student even said he showered three times per day! This seems to be a common trend in more urban areas where more emphasis is placed on appearance.
While sitting around weeding the lilac trees in Highland park, the students began to open up more. This environment seems to foster communication and connection more than any other we’ve been in so far, despite the complaints from the students. We learned that Olmsted created this park in the 1800’s during a time when parks were reserved for the social elite, requiring special status and dress. He wanted a park for everyone to enjoy, regardless of status… “any person, any park.”
Many of the teens have expressed a strong dislike for Rochester and a desire to leave. Statements like “there’s nothing for me here,” “you just wake up everyday and it’s the same” or “it’s ghetto” are common. One student told me he is trying to get recruited to play college basketball and there are few resources and opportunities for him here. While I do understand their point, I’m hoping that working to improve the natural beauty of this city might evoke some more Rochester pride in the students.
I also have pleasure of leading the youth in the “Vary Your Veggies” nutrition cooking program this summer! This is a 6-week course designed to introduce youth to healthy, veggie-focused cooking. We started by making oven fries with potatoes and sweet potatoes. Many of the teens had never eaten a sweet potato, used a kitchen knife or the oven before. Some of them were much more confident in the kitchen but I was excited to see everyone participating and everyone tried the fries when they were done! Not everyone liked them but many did and said they would try them again at home 🙂 Many of the students have said “I don’t eat vegetables” and my goal is to change that by the end of the program.
Another wonderful benefit this summer is that we are able to order lunch every day for the group. We have been able to introduce them to new foods like dumplings, veggie fried rice, greek food and chicken parmesan. One day I made avocado toast and most of the students tried it for the first time and enjoyed it!
On Thursday we tie dyed t-shirts and visited an art gallery.There was some really cool art with political commentary on it and I was excited for the student to learn about politics and social issues through a unique, relatable medium – skateboards!
