Demariee Lester spends four days per week in an old schoolyard

surrounded by barbed-wire and an 8-foot chain link fence. The sidewalk is

cracked, the windows in the surrounding, mostly abandoned, buildings are
broken, the doors are padlocked and piles of garbage litter the property.

A single glance might suggest that it is a neglected prison or a forsaken
housing project. A motorist driving by might not even notice it. A second glance
reveals much more.

Here, a little more than a mile from the University of Georgias iconic
Arch alongside a main road in an area whose per-capita income is about 40
percent of the statewide average, change is blooming.

Six Classic City High School students are learning how to garden in an
urban environment. The are learning how to do it sustainably and organically.
They are learning how to think entrepreneurially how to sell a product and
themselves and how to take responsibility for their own futures.

Lester is a member of the Young Urban Farmers program, a partnership
between the Athens Land Trust and Classic City High School.

Since August, they have been working at the West Broad Market Garden
for four hours after school from Tuesday through Thursday and five hours each
Saturday. They plant, water, mulch, compost, dig, measure, mark, paint, weigh
and harvest. And thats merely what theyre learning about gardening.

Earlier in the program, they received weekly classroom training on
entrepreneurial development skills from local business professionals. Each
student some working alone, others in groups was instructed to design and
create a product for sale at the West Broad Farmers Market, which is open each
Saturday from May to December.

Though the program has taught the students the ins and outs of urban
farming, the goal from the outset has been significantly more far-reaching.

The program addresses a pervasive disconnect between many urban youth
and their food, said Christina Hylton, the community agriculture program director
for the Athens Land Trust. We wanted to look at the idea of engaging
the next generation of urban leaders, said Hylton.



None of the programs eight previous participants have remained in the
agriculture industry, either in full-time employment or in post-secondary
education program, said program coordinator Bantu Gross. However, they
received valuable training and access to resources during their internships.

One of the most important aspects is the real-world job experience. Many
of the students have never had a real job before, and this is an important first step
to finding gainful employment after graduation.

A lot of times what you find with students who might get labeled as at
risk is that they dont have a lot of connections with institutions or organizations
in the community, said Classic City High School Director Kelly Girtz.

That lack of connection can make finding success after graduation
difficult.

Its often been said that in order to get a job you have to have a job, said
Michelle Carter, assistant director for employer relations at the University of
Georgia Career Center. The challenge would be convincing someone that they
have the skill set that is needed for any job.

The garden provides a formal setting for them to apply some of their raw
skills and talents, said Girtz, acclimating them to going into a job where they will
have daily work tasks.

Field trips and guest speakers provide ample opportunities for the students
to learn about sustainable gardening techniques, soil pH balance and correct water
levels, but the goal of the program is much broader than simply agriculture.

The hope is that they will use what they learn to gain employment or that
they will have been exposed to technical schools, said Hylton.
It seems that that plan is working.

The five seniors in this years group are all on track to graduate, Gross
said. That number is in stark contrast with Classic City High Schools 2013
graduation rate of 28 percent

While neither Gross nor Girtz know of any direct correlation between the
program and post-graduation success, those numbers suggests that responsibility
in the garden translates to responsibility in the classroom.



Their work in the garden is paying academic dividends, said Girtz. They
are more willing to take care of business in math and English because they see it
as connected to the future of their own lives.

Lester agreed.

When I look forward to coming out here everyday, it puts me in a good
mood and helps me pay attention, he said.

Before joining the YUF program, I was just really sitting at home,
Lester said. I wasnt doing much with my time. Its time well spent because you
get to help people, and you make money.

Lester wants to go to Athens Tech to study music after he graduates from
high school, and he knows that this experience could help him get accepted to his
school of choice.

I think it would look good on a resume.

He also thinks that the experience of having a regular job can help him
deal with the workload he will likely have in college.

Maybe I can use some of the experience, flip it over, and make it work
for a new situation, he said. You can always compare situations even though
they dont have anything to do with each other.
Athens Land Trust chose Classic City High School as its partner school because
of its existing career program, Hylton said.

They knew that our population consisted of students who might have had
challenges in the traditional academic environment, said Girtz. It ended up
being the perfect marriage of a couple of different programs.

Its great being outside, you know, said senior Drew Miner. Its a great
opportunity. Ive learned a lot.

The program also uses the garden, which is certainly a non-traditional
academic environment, as a platform for teaching entrepreneurial development
skills, concepts that are largely new to the students.

The students had to give presentations on their products upon completed
the business instruction. Standing in front of a panel of local professionals and


community leaders, each had to explain his or her inspiration for the product,
business plan assessing costs and potential profits and marketing strategy.

Senior Yasmin Hudson showed a hand-painted ceramic plant pot to the
panel as she described her inspiration. She liked the garden work at first but
thought everything boring and dull.

Im a very fashionable person, Hudson said. I like fashion. I like
decoration. I like cheetah prints, polka dots and little weird patterns.

I was thinking of ways I could add my personality to the garden, she
said.

She hopes to attract teenaged girls to the farmers market as customers and
even inspire them to work in the garden, she said as the panel gently prodded her
with questions about her main clientele.

Though Classic City does offer a marketing class, Girtz said, a tangible
application like the garden enhances the knowledge more than any classroom
experience ever could.

It is yet to be seen whether or not the program, which both the land trust
and high school hope to expand to include 16 students, will produce any full-time
agriculturalists, urban or otherwise. Nevertheless, the students now have the
knowledge and skills to pursue those careers if they want, but at least they will be
able to apply what theyve learned to their own backyards.

Ive got a better understanding of plants, said senior Ronnie Bernard
Hull III. I think about it, and now I know why my grandmother had a garden.
She only went to the store for meat. She wanted to be organic.

Hull said he tells everyone he meets about the garden, trying to spread the
good news about the West Broad Market Garden and the Young Urban Farmers
program. He wants other people to get excited about it much like he was when he
first applied for the job.

Its gonna sound funny, but I wanted to help my community, he said. A
lot of people dont even know this is back here, so when I tell them what were
growing a lot of people get excited.



The students ability to work in groups is growing right along side the
vegetables, though, said senior Drew Miner.

(I have learned) to work with people that you might not necessarily get
along with off the bat, but you gotta learn to work with them and make it happen,
he said. Once you learn how to do that it just helps everybody get things done.

Hull also knows that the lessons learned at the garden transcend planting,
weeding, watering and harvesting. These lessons apply to life.

The more work you put in and you take time and really care about
something that you put your energy into, the end product will be very rewarding.
Kind of like going to school for music. I study and learn and take notes, and in the
end Ill have my college degree and Ill do something that I love.

And isnt that what its all about?









Sources:

http://www.clarke.k12.ga.us/files/filesystem/2013%20Classic%20City%20Perfor
mance%20Report%20(final)1.pdf

http://www.usa.com/clarke-county-ga-income-and-careers.htm#Employment-
Status

http://www.usa.com/GA059000900.html

http://www.athenslandtrust.org/community-gardens/west-broad-farmers-
market/young-urban-farmers-development-program/

Gross: 504-940-8249

Girtz: girtzk@clarke.k12.ga.us



Hylton: 706-613-0122

Lester, Hudson, Hull Miner: contact Gross or Girtz