Reflections-- camden trip 2

There is sometimes a stigma that urban city kids aren’t into “the environment” or “nature.” Going to an urban city school in Boston myself, I know that this isn’t the case because of the students themselves, but sometimes can be forced onto them because of accessibility. While in the Boston Public School system, I loved learning about the environment in my science classroom for all of the 3 short weeks we spent on it during senior year. But I never had access to a greenhouse. Far too many urban students don’t have access to spaces like this, and I think the stigma stems from that lack of environmental accessibility. It was heartwarming to see the students engaged and excited about the dirt and seeds and nature in the greenhouse, and such a wonderful contradiction to that stigma. My partner knew so much about planting and gardening, and was also genuinely passionate about it, which was great to see that this wasn’t just a boring class project day, but something they wanted to be doing. Hopefully they’ll continue with that interest, and maybe even be like the other older students we met months ago working/volunteering for the organization. And, maybe even some of these students will end up at BMC doing a 360, like the boy said during our go-around in Camden on MLK day—“I want to do this 360 thing too someday.” A lot of hope.