As another YFS summer comes to a close, we’re saying a big thank you and farewell to our incredible summer staff!
Throughout the season, Sage, Luma, Austin, and Brennan (as well as Kiya, who we said goodbye to in July) have been behind so much of what happened across YFS, supporting our school gardens and youth food markets, mentoring and working alongside youth, coordinating activities and community connections, and helping to bring our summer programming to life.
From planting and harvesting to market days, media opportunities, field trips and our End of Season Celebration, they brought their own ideas, skills and energy to the team. As they wrap up their time with us, we asked them to share a little about what stood out from their summer with YFS and what’s next for them.
Austin Massey
The most memorable thing from this summer was seeing how all the youth could come together with all their ideas, and completely turn a garden upside down into something beautiful. Seeing their faces and reactions to seeing their ideas and dreams come to life has made all the hard work, sweat, and dirty hands worth it!
I am so proud of all my garden and market team members and all the hard work and time they have put into this summer. My next journey will be teaching in either the Waterloo region or surrounding rural areas. I have learned so many things about gardening myself through YFS and will definitely be carrying my knowledge forward into my career in teaching.
I am so grateful to have found out about this program and I encourage every youth to join the program!
Sage Barnard
My summer with YFS has been such an amazing opportunity all around, but I think the most meaningful part for me has been getting to engage with the community so directly. Getting to spend time with the youth, our mentors, staff over at the Cambridge Food Bank, Kitchener Community Healthcaring, and rare to name a few, and connecting with them over food and gardens has been such a memorable experience.
I’m proud of seeing the youth feel more comfortable in these spaces and with each other every week. Seeing them gain confidence to enter the garden or show up to the market and immediately know what to do and how to do it when just a few weeks ago some of them had no experience in these areas is super rewarding.
After my summer with YFS I will be returning to the University of Guelph for the final year of degree in Geography!
Luma Abuarqoub
Working with Youth in Food Systems this summer has been so fulfilling, rewarding, and fun. There have been so many core memories made at the gardens and the markets. From creating funny reels with my market team, to harvesting our produce with the garden, I’ve been so honoured to be a part of it.
Sowing seeds in the garden and watching it go from a tiny sprout to a fully grown plant that we can harvest has been so rewarding. Showing up consistently to water the plants has been therapeutic. Laughing with my team while getting soaked from the water tap is something I’ll never forget. Getting to do a Radio interview with some youth at CKMS was another core memory.
I am most proud of the youth I worked with this summer. They are all incredible, intelligent, and bright. They all have a big future ahead of them, and I am so proud of each of them for everything they accomplished in the gardens, markets, and in photovoice!
I am so grateful that I will be continuing to help with some YFS projects in the fall, for a few more weeks. I am so excited to continue on the work from the summer, and get started on new projects too! 🙂
Brennan Morley
My time working with Seeds of Diversity and Youth in Food Systems has been incredible. Some of my favourite moments of the summer have been seeing the youth of the program engage in new ideas that we introduced at the start of the season, use their collaborative imagination and creativity to explore the ideas, then implement them in their weekly markets.
Seeing the amount and variety of garden grown produce headed to the markets is especially memorable! I’ve learned a ton about seeds, their attributes, how they grow and how diverse they are, and I’ve learned even more about how today’s high-school aged youth are creating a future for themselves — with each other.
Starting in September, I’ll be finishing up at SoD and YFS and entering a Masters of Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Waterloo, where no doubt my work will be informed by this summer’s activities.
We’re so grateful for everything our summer staff brought to YFS this season and, especially, for the relationships they built with our youth along the way. Thank you, Austin, Sage, Luma, Brennan, and Kiya for your hard work, flexibility, creativity and care throughout a very full summer. 💚
We’ll miss having you on the YFS team, but we’re excited to see where your next adventures take you. Once YFS, always YFS!