Students at The School of Environmental Science are bringing a new twist to YEA Corps’ aquaponics programming.
About 100 students, from what we fondly refer to as the “Zoo School,” are participating in a specialized aquaponics program for the 2011/2012 school year. This is the first year in our partnership together and we are so impressed by the ingenuity and creativity of this group of youth.
The School for Environmental Science is an optional high school for Twin City area students interested in the sciences. The school is located next door to the Minnesota Zoo.
Due to the high level of science aptitude, YEA Corps implemented an advanced curriculum with our aquaponics programming. Operations Director Zach Robinson simulated an organizational structure, allowing students to choose roles for themselves such as CEO, CFO or Building Manager. Divided into two to three groups per classroom, students worked together to devise their own aquaponics systems. The tasks were divided by each member’s position and plans were submitted to the “Board of Directors”: Zach and their classroom science teacher, Mr. Nord.
Most exciting are the ideas each group came up for their systems and their plans for selling and marketing their produce. One group created a tiered system. One of the tiers would be used to grow cucumbers and the other tier for dill. This group plans to can pickles and sell them at a profit. Another group has planted flowers and will sell the flowers at their annual prom.
Student projects have completed plans for their systems and building. Planting is underway.
At YEA Corps, we are consistently blown away by the independent thinking of the youth participating in our programming. When given an opportunity to actively learn and engage, the results are nothing less than awesome.
We’ll keep you up-to-date with more photos of the finished systems as the program continues.
Special thanks to all the School of Environmental Science participants, Mr. Nord, SES and YEA supporters. If you would like to learn more about the School for Environmental Sciences, you can find them here: district196.org/ses.
