Troy students urban gardeners
Published:
Thursday, October 29, 2009
By
Danielle Sanzone
The Record
Amy Klein
of the Capital District Community Gardens, center, joins Troy High
School student who will participate in the Produce Project, a
hands-on training that will provide them with both income and fresh
food, at a site on Eighth Street in Troy on Wednesday. Photo by Tom
Killips - The Record.
Assemblyman Tim Gordon of Bethlehem Wednesday attended the opening
of a Community Gardens project on Eighth Street in Troy that will
involve Troy High School students in hands-on gardening and produce
marketing. With him are his sons, Reed, 7, and Sean, 9. Photo by Tom
Killips - The Record.
TROY —
An interest in healthy foods may not immediately come to mind when
talking about high school students, but Troy High School junior
Twanasia Pringle said she is looking forward to growing her own
vegetables as part of the inaugural class for the Produce Project.
The program was launched this week by the Capital District Community
Gardens. The project will utilize garden areas in Albany, a site in
Lansingburgh at Corliss Park, and a 1-acre patch on Eighth Street in
Troy.
Pringle will have her first day of farming on Friday as a group of
10 students prepares the gardens for the winter months. The group is
composed of 10th and 11th graders who will be working with the CDCG,
SUNY Cobleskill, and teachers at the high school.
“I’m happy I get to grow nutritious and healthy food and then be
able to bring it home,” said Pringle who lives only a few blocks
from the Eighth Street site.
About 50 students applied to be a part of this group and it was
narrowed down from there, said Seth Cohen, a high school teacher and
advisor for the Environmental Club.
The students will work at the gardens about 10 hours per week during
the school year and up to 30 hours per week over the summer. Along
with taking home the fruits of their labor, they also get a stipend.
The weekly stipend and other costs of the project will be covered by
$60,000 in grants which the CDCG received from various public and
private funding sources, said CDCG spokeswoman Amy Klein.
“It would be wonderful if some of these students eventually got
involved in farming, or even became lifetime gardeners, based on
their participation here, but that is not really the main mission of
the Produce Project,” she said. “They will also learn important
sales and marketing skills. Our main goal is to improve their
outlook and academic performance in school through their experience
in the field. And by the end of the program they will have skills
and contacts that will lead to a job or college.”
The project will teach the students about the sale and marketing of
the produce they grow since most of the food will be sold to area
chefs and restaurants including Jose Malone’s in Troy, the Honest
Weight Food Co-op, and Noah Sheetz, the executive chef at the
Governor’s Mansion. Students will also sell the produce at the Troy
Farmers Market.
The garden will have garlic, carrots, beets, and a variety of other
greens during the year-long cycle of planting and harvesting, said
Stephen Corrigan, the Produce Project coordinator who will be
working with the students on a regular basis at the gardens.
A study will also be conducted by an area school on the health
affects from the garden, CDCG officials said.
In the future, officials intend to increase the number of student
participants in the project.
CDCG, the organizer of the Veggie Mobile which serves low-income
communities, also has ambitious goals for the future for the Eighth
Street site which is adjacent to one of their oldest community
gardens from 1983. They want to eventually turn the site into an
Urban Grow Center with a certified green building equipped with
classrooms, a commercial kitchen, library, and resource center.
“Providing city residents with affordable access to local, fresh
produce year-round is not only good for individual health, but also
good for the health of our local economy,” said Assemblyman Tim
Gordon who attended the Wednesday afternoon event in the rain. “I am
delighted to have this opportunity to work with the Capital District
Community Gardens and to assist in launching the Urban Grow Center
here in Troy by securing over $150,000 with my Assembly colleagues
Ron Canestrari and Jack McEneny.”
The students chosen for the project include Luqman Azhari, Nagee
Brace, Amy Crispell, Christopher Dickson, Kyia Dow, Dominick
Ferrandino, China Moody, JeAnnt’a Newell, James Scott, and Pringle.
Danielle Sanzone may be reached at 270-1292 or by email at
dsanzone@troyrecord.com.
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