The back to the land movement is strong at a Coquitlam school, where students are learning to revitalize a stream, repair a forest and grow native plants they can eat.
And this summer, School District 43 Grade 10 and 11 students can join in the fun for course credit and a bit of pocket money.
SOYL is a six-week summer leadership program that encourages secondary students to cultivate and look after school a yard farm.
From July 3 to Aug. 8, the non-profit Fresh Roots will collaborate with SD43 to offer SOYL at Suwa’lkh in school Coquitlam, a former elementary school on Brunette Avenue that now houses an Indigenous education program with a focus on hands on learning.
This is the first year Fresh Roots is offering placement for summer students after a successful small pilot program last year. Up to 20 students will be accepted into the program where they will learn to grow, cook and sell food at local farmer’s markets, while also learning about how the food system works.
Participants will also receive a $600 stipend for the summer, community service hours and credit for Environmental Science 11.
Benson Chang will teach the program while Fresh Roots will provide the support based on expertise developed through six years of running education programs on school grounds in Vancouver, Delta and in Coquitlam, where First Nations students learn about growing native plants and then harvest them for medicine or for food.
“Students have talents and capacity — our job is to create an environment to allow them to survive and thrive and encourage them to scaffold up to leadership to the next place where they can take their learning further,” explained Fresh Roots director Marc Schutzbank.
There is a strong environmental science component in the program because students will be learning about the important role plants play in the carbon cycle and how native plants are more beneficial to the soil than typical vegetable crops, said Schutzbank.
“It’s important thinking about how do we build better ecosystems,” Schutzbank said.
Students thrive when they have something they are passionate about, he said, especially when teachers are there to support them.
In recent years, Fresh Roots has developed a partnership with SD43 through the Suwa’lkh program, where students are regenerating a stream and forested area and learning about Indigenous culture in an outdoor classroom.
Recent successes at Suwa’lkh have included a salmon finding its way up Como Creek after invasive species were removed and fingerlings released, and students are growing native plants such as salmonberry, thimble berry, Oregon grape and salal for planting along the stream.
“When we think about what the new curriculum is — a huge part of it is recognizing Indigenous ways of learning and knowing and a lot requires us to listen and being on the land,” according to Schutzbank.
Giving students an opportunity to listen and learn from the land is what SOYL is all about.
To register, visit freshroots.ca/SOYL
