Helping in the Community - Symone

My name is Symone and I am 15 years old. I found out about this program from my agriculture teacher Nicole Barrows. My favorite part about Project GROWS is our Fridays when we get to go out to the community and help out and meet new people. The thing that I'm most proud of is how much we have grown and harvested in the past 8 weeks. A professional skill that I have picked up in these last weeks of working here is talking more and getting out of my shy stage. This experience has made me realize trying new things isn't that bad. I chose to do this job because I was in an agriculture class and I liked it so I wanted to see if I could go on with it.

I got to meet new people from other schools. What surprised me the most was us hanging out with the campers and having fun activities with them and teaching them what bind weed is and looks like. A day on the farm might look like this: we came in, we did our time sheets, then we talked about what we were doing for the day then we stretched and got gloves, then we weeded a little, then we took a break then we would go and bed prep and plant and learn things on the farm.

On Fridays, we would go out to the community and help around. The first time we went out, we went to Dixon Garden and helped them weed and plant new stuff that they had. We had breakfast there and a BBQ for lunch. The second place we went to was Jones Garden and they gave us a tour and we weeded for them and harvested their onions then went to the park and played a game. The third place we went was Parkway in Waynesboro. We went and knocked on peoples’ doors to come to the office and gave them a presentation about what we do here on the farm. The last thing we did was have a showcase at our farm and took our parents and other people around and gave them a tour. We told them about the farm and explained everything we have here and answered any of their questions. 

My favorite thing that I learned about here was when the bee lady came to teach at camp. She talked about the queen bee and how they get their food and make their honey homes.

My time here was good. I liked meeting everyone and getting to know them.