{"id":27137,"date":"2023-01-27t16:41:36","date_gmt":"2023-01-27t16:41:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dev.planetforward.com\/2023\/01\/27\/urban-roots-at-garfield-park-conservatory-teach-chicago-teens-how-to-take-care-of-their-environment\/"},"modified":"2023-02-28t16:15:10","modified_gmt":"2023-02-28t16:15:10","slug":"chicago-teens-green-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/chicago-teens-green-education\/","title":{"rendered":"urban roots at garfield park conservatory teach chicago teens how to take care of their environment"},"content":{"rendered":"<p dir=\"ltr\">chicago winters rarely leave a live plant in sight. but travel just six miles west of the city\u2019s center to find the green oasis that is garfield park conservatory. the <a href=\"https:\/\/garfieldconservatory.org\/\">conservatory<\/a> puts on numerous events and programming to engage chicago community members, but urban roots stands out for taking important strides in green education.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">urban roots teen environmental justice program is a seasonal employment <a href=\"https:\/\/garfieldconservatory.org\/about-us\/urban-roots\/\">opportunity<\/a> offered at garfield park conservatory in chicago to students from al raby high school. participants can learn to be conservatory docents, receive mentorship, and build a better relationship with nature through the program.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">max meyers, youth program coordinator, said that staff are in the process of finalizing participants for the spring session. but in order to make the program as accessible as possible, they try not to turn students away.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cthe number one thing we\u2019re looking for is engagement. like being able to show up physically, emotionally and mentally in that space,\u201d meyers said.<\/p>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\">an evolving program for a changing world<\/h2>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">when the program was started in 2016, students would give tours during their breaks in school. in 2022, the program shifted to being offered on a&nbsp;semesterly basis&nbsp;and as an after-school program. marqueketa glenn, director of youth education at the conservatory, was hired in march 2022 with the intention of taking the project in a new direction.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cwhen i came into this role, i was just thinking how we could make this program less like school, and more geared around the youth\u2019s interests and what they want to learn,\u201d she said. \u201cwe still do docent training, but we&#8217;ve added the environmental justice component and the mentorship component that we&#8217;re still working on, but we&#8217;re trying to launch new things,\u201d glenn said.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">students learn how to plan and lead tours, maintain their own gardens, identify plants in the conservatory, as well as take field trips to different nature spaces and become engaged with local environmental justice issues. glenn said that the program also collaborates with organizations such as seed your future, which works&nbsp;to promote interest in green careers.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"image align-left\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"a teenager holds a small tool to a honey comb over a large plastic tub filled with other honey combs at the garfield park conservatory in chicago.\" height=\"307\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/20221017_214000394_ios.jpg\"><figcaption>a student during a honey<br \/>\nextraction workshop offered by<br \/>\nurban roots.<br \/>\n(garfield park conservatory alliance)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cas far as green jobs and green education, i think they\u2019re really important, especially right now. when in high school, [students] talk about all the jobs that [they] can have, and it&#8217;s usually the same types of jobs every time. \u2018i want to be a doctor, i want to be a lawyer, i want to be a teacher.\u2019&nbsp;we want to give more awareness about what other jobs are out there,\u201d said glenn.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">covid, however, affected some participation in the program, and glenn and meyers said that they are still in the process of trying to rebuild. but the program&nbsp;is the most \u201cin-person\u201d that it has been since the beginning of the pandemic.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cit was a pretty established program. and then covid&nbsp;came and it was totally restructured for remote learning,\u201d said meyers. \u201csince then it&#8217;s gone through a number of iterations trying to adapt to the pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\">providing mentorship and guidance for chicago&#8217;s youth<\/h2>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">the first iteration of the program did, however, keep some alumni around, such as a\u2019shanti johnson, who now works as a program assistant for urban roots after being a participant in 2017. johnson was hired directly from the program as a front desk associate. she later took on the role as program assistant in june of last year.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">she said that before being in the program, she had never been to the conservatory. nor had she conserider her potential role in&nbsp;tending&nbsp;to plants.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201ci don&#8217;t have a green thumb. if i were to have a plant and try to take care of it, it probably would pass away. but when i grew my garden, i loved it,\u201d johnson said.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">now she said that she knows plenty about how plants grow and adapt. as the program assistant she helps to facilitate lesson plans and to coordinate students\u2019 needs. and being with the conservatory for over five years now, she\u2019s able to offer important conservatory expertise to glenn and meyers.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cshe has more knowledge about the program than either of us because she was in it and she was here longer. she&#8217;s been very helpful in structuring the docent training with the young people,\u201d said glenn.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">since johnson is closer in age with urban roots students, she said that she sometimes acts as a bridge between meyers and participants. but johnson still feels the difference between her generation and the younger one, saying that students now tend to be a lot more bold in talking about environmental issues than previous cohorts.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cwe knew what was happening in the world. but when we got to the conservatory, it was a safe space where we really didn&#8217;t have to focus much on it or actually deal with it,\u201d said johnson. \u201cnow it\u2019s still a safe space, but students speak more openly about their pain, and how they feel in that safe space.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">while the program encourages students to pursue green careers, it isn\u2019t the most important program outcome.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cyou don&#8217;t have to commit to going into the green industry [to be in the program]. it&#8217;s just about being an aware and responsible person on this earth and understanding your nature connection and why it&#8217;s important,\u201d said glenn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>an employment opportunity at garfield park conservatory in chicago teaches teens how to become conservatory guides, while also providing a green education.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10210,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5195,5034],"tags":[69,714,5043,294,5046],"storyfest_categories":[],"class_list":["post-27137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-justice","category-storyfest-2023","tag-chicago","tag-environmental-justice","tag-green-education","tag-green-jobs","tag-teen-environmentalism"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- this site is optimized with the yoast seo plugin v23.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>urban roots at garfield park conservatory teach chicago teens how to take care of their environment - planet forward<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/chicago-teens-green-education\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_us\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"urban roots at garfield park conservatory teach chicago teens how to take care of their environment - planet forward\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"an employment opportunity at garfield park conservatory in chicago teaches teens how to become conservatory guides, while also providing a green education.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/chicago-teens-green-education\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"planet forward\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/planetforward.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-01-27t16:41:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-02-28t16:15:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"adriana martinez-smiley\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@planet_forward\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@planet_forward\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"adriana martinez-smiley\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"article\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/chicago-teens-green-education\/#article\",\"ispartof\":{\"@id\":\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/chicago-teens-green-education\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"adriana martinez-smiley\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a08f7ea3fb7991b240f4122c631a544d\"},\"headline\":\"urban roots at garfield park conservatory teach chicago teens how to take care of their environment\",\"datepublished\":\"2023-01-27t16:41:36+00:00\",\"datemodified\":\"2023-02-28t16:15:10+00:00\",\"mainentityofpage\":{\"@id\":\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/chicago-teens-green-education\/\"},\"wordcount\":937,\"commentcount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"chicago\",\"environmental justice\",\"green education\",\"green jobs\",\"teen environmentalism\"],\"articlesection\":[\"justice\",\"storyfest 2023\"],\"inlanguage\":\"en-us\",\"potentialaction\":[{\"@type\":\"commentaction\",\"name\":\"comment\",\"target\":[\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/chicago-teens-green-education\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"webpage\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/chicago-teens-green-education\/\",\"url\":\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/chicago-teens-green-education\/\",\"name\":\"urban roots at garfield park conservatory teach chicago teens how to take care of their environment - planet forward\",\"ispartof\":{\"@id\":\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/#website\"},\"datepublished\":\"2023-01-27t16:41:36+00:00\",\"datemodified\":\"2023-02-28t16:15:10+00:00\",\"inlanguage\":\"en-us\",\"potentialaction\":[{\"@type\":\"readaction\",\"target\":[\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/chicago-teens-green-education\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"website\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/\",\"name\":\"planet forward\",\"description\":\"inspiring stories to 2022年卡塔尔世界杯官网
\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialaction\":[{\"@type\":\"searchaction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"entrypoint\",\"urltemplate\":\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"propertyvaluespecification\",\"valuerequired\":true,\"valuename\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inlanguage\":\"en-us\"},{\"@type\":\"organization\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"planet forward\",\"url\":\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"imageobject\",\"inlanguage\":\"en-us\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/pf_main_primary_rgb-1-1.png\",\"contenturl\":\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/pf_main_primary_rgb-1-1.png\",\"width\":1264,\"height\":660,\"caption\":\"planet forward\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameas\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/planetforward.org\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/planet_forward\"]},{\"@type\":\"person\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a08f7ea3fb7991b240f4122c631a544d\",\"name\":\"adriana martinez-smiley\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"imageobject\",\"inlanguage\":\"en-us\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/cropped-adriana-headshot-bandwidth-issue-96x96.jpg\",\"contenturl\":\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/cropped-adriana-headshot-bandwidth-issue-96x96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"adriana martinez-smiley\"},\"description\":\"adriana martinez-smiley (she\/they) is a senior at northwestern university, majoring in journalism with a concentration in critical race &amp; ethnic studies. black, chicanx and queer, she comes from a grassroots organizing background. she is interested in solutions-oriented storytelling that posits marginalized communities at the frontlines of climate and environmental crises. they\u00a0hope\u00a0to pursue environmental investigative reporting that is accessible and empowering to the communities it concerns.\",\"url\":\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/author\/adriana-martinez-smiley\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ yoast seo plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"urban roots at garfield park conservatory teach chicago teens how to take care of their environment - planet forward","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/chicago-teens-green-education\/","og_locale":"en_us","og_type":"article","og_title":"urban roots at garfield park conservatory teach chicago teens how to take care of their environment - planet forward","og_description":"an employment opportunity at garfield park conservatory in chicago teaches teens how to become conservatory guides, while also providing a green education.","og_url":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/chicago-teens-green-education\/","og_site_name":"planet forward","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/planetforward.org","article_published_time":"2023-01-27t16:41:36+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-02-28t16:15:10+00:00","author":"adriana martinez-smiley","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@planet_forward","twitter_site":"@planet_forward","twitter_misc":{"written by":"adriana martinez-smiley","est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"article","@id":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/chicago-teens-green-education\/#article","ispartof":{"@id":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/chicago-teens-green-education\/"},"author":{"name":"adriana martinez-smiley","@id":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a08f7ea3fb7991b240f4122c631a544d"},"headline":"urban roots at garfield park conservatory teach chicago teens how to take care of their environment","datepublished":"2023-01-27t16:41:36+00:00","datemodified":"2023-02-28t16:15:10+00:00","mainentityofpage":{"@id":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/chicago-teens-green-education\/"},"wordcount":937,"commentcount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/#organization"},"keywords":["chicago","environmental justice","green education","green jobs","teen environmentalism"],"articlesection":["justice","storyfest 2023"],"inlanguage":"en-us","potentialaction":[{"@type":"commentaction","name":"comment","target":["\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/chicago-teens-green-education\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"webpage","@id":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/chicago-teens-green-education\/","url":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/chicago-teens-green-education\/","name":"urban roots at garfield park conservatory teach chicago teens how to take care of their environment - planet forward","ispartof":{"@id":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/#website"},"datepublished":"2023-01-27t16:41:36+00:00","datemodified":"2023-02-28t16:15:10+00:00","inlanguage":"en-us","potentialaction":[{"@type":"readaction","target":["\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/chicago-teens-green-education\/"]}]},{"@type":"website","@id":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/#website","url":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/","name":"planet forward","description":"inspiring stories to 2022年卡塔尔世界杯官网
","publisher":{"@id":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/#organization"},"potentialaction":[{"@type":"searchaction","target":{"@type":"entrypoint","urltemplate":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"propertyvaluespecification","valuerequired":true,"valuename":"search_term_string"}}],"inlanguage":"en-us"},{"@type":"organization","@id":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/#organization","name":"planet forward","url":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/","logo":{"@type":"imageobject","inlanguage":"en-us","@id":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/pf_main_primary_rgb-1-1.png","contenturl":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/pf_main_primary_rgb-1-1.png","width":1264,"height":660,"caption":"planet forward"},"image":{"@id":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameas":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/planetforward.org","https:\/\/x.com\/planet_forward"]},{"@type":"person","@id":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a08f7ea3fb7991b240f4122c631a544d","name":"adriana martinez-smiley","image":{"@type":"imageobject","inlanguage":"en-us","@id":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/cropped-adriana-headshot-bandwidth-issue-96x96.jpg","contenturl":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/cropped-adriana-headshot-bandwidth-issue-96x96.jpg","caption":"adriana martinez-smiley"},"description":"adriana martinez-smiley (she\/they) is a senior at northwestern university, majoring in journalism with a concentration in critical race &amp; ethnic studies. black, chicanx and queer, she comes from a grassroots organizing background. she is interested in solutions-oriented storytelling that posits marginalized communities at the frontlines of climate and environmental crises. they\u00a0hope\u00a0to pursue environmental investigative reporting that is accessible and empowering to the communities it concerns.","url":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/author\/adriana-martinez-smiley\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27137"}],"collection":[{"href":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10210"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27137\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27137"},{"taxonomy":"storyfest_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/storyfest_categories?post=27137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}