JOIN youth in food systems!
Youth in Food Systems welcomes you! Our goal is to provide opportunities for high school aged youth, aged 14-19, to explore environmental topics related to food and sustainability, gain transferable skills, and explore career option in the agriculture and food sector.
By allowing youth to follow their own interests with staff support, we aim to foster inquiry, research, critical thinking, and communication skills.
Youth project work takes place on Circle, an online platform for collaboration.
We’re always looking for young people across Ontario to join our team! Read through the descriptions available below and fill out the form located at the bottom of the page to sign up!
YEAR-ROUND OPPORTUNITIES
Please note that the availability of roles changes regularly. Please feel free to sign up for the role(s) that most interest you and we’ll be in touch to discuss what’s available.
THE YOUTH BLOG
Writer
Do you have a way with words, or just an interest in writing? We have an opportunity for you to write about food- and sustainability-related topics for the blog! It’s written for young people, by young people, to educate and inspire your peers.
What you’ll gain:
- Research skills
- Written communication skills and abilities
- Collaboration skills within the blog team
- Confidence in yourself and your abilities
- A chance to have your work published on a professional webpage
Time commitment: 3 month minimum, 1+ blog posts / month on a flexible schedule
Graphic Designer
The aesthetic of the blog is important for capturing readers’ attention. Part of this is having a featured image for each and every blog post created. If you have a creative eye and like to create visually appealing and enticing graphics, this role could be the perfect fit for you!
What you’ll gain:
- Graphic design skills, using Canva
- Collaboration skills within the blog team
- Confidence in yourself and your abilities
- A chance to have your work published on a professional webpage
Time commitment: 3 month minimum, 1+ blog posts / month on a flexible schedule
Editor
The essence of the blog lies in having high quality content, and that shouldn’t fall solely on the blog writers. Our editors are responsible for reviewing each post and providing suggestions and feedback before the posts get published.
What you’ll gain:
- Critical thinking skills
- Written communication skills and abilities
- Collaboration skills within the blog team
- Confidence in yourself and your abilities
- A chance to have your efforts recognized on a professional webpage
Time commitment: 3 month minimum, 1+ blog posts / month on a fixed, self-selected schedule
Publisher
The final piece of the blog process is getting the written, edited, designed posts onto the blog where they can be read and enjoyed by our audience. If you have a great eye for detail and layout, and have strong computer skills or an interest in building such skills, consider joining the team!
What you’ll gain:
- Critical thinking skills
- Web development experience using WordPress
- Collaboration skills within the blog team
- Confidence in yourself and your abilities
- A chance to have your efforts recognized on a professional webpage
Time commitment: 3 month minimum, 2+ blog posts /month on a fixed, self-selected schedule
FOOD LEADER INTERVIEW SERIES
* CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE – Season 4 Interview Series roles will open in early 2024 *
Interviewer
We are on Season 3 of the Food Leader Interview Series and we need your help! Our youth Interviewers conduct virtual video interviews with professionals working in our food systems. Our volunteer interviewers are responsible for participating in training, designing interview questions, communicating with their selected Interviewee, setting up their interview, and utilizing Zoom to carry out the (20-30 minute) conversation.
What you’ll gain:
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- Research and critical thinking skills
- Communication skills and abilities with teammates, staff, and food leaders
- Leadership development and confidence building
- One-on-one and group training in conducting interviews
- Independence, leadership, and “judgement call” skills
Time commitment: 10-20 hours total commitment over the course of four months.
Video Editor
What happens after our Interviewers carry out their interviews? They are reviewed, edited down as needed, spiced up with captions, music, and an intro and outro, and scheduled to be published! We are looking for youth with experience or an interest in video editing to join Season 3 of our Food Leader Interview Series.
What you’ll gain:
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- Critical thinking skills
- Communication skills and abilities with teammates and staff
- Leadership development and confidence building
- One-on-one and group training in video editing
- Time management skills
- Video editing skills
Time commitment: 10-15 hours total commitment over the course of two months.
Graphic Designer
Accompanying each video and audio interview is an infographic career profile, to accommodate those who prefer to read over watch/listen. So, we are looking for youth to carry out this transformation, converting what was said into easy-to-read, visually appealing highlights of each career for Season 3 of our Food Leader Interview Series.
What you’ll gain:
- Graphic design skills, using Canva
- Collaboration skills within the interview series team
- A chance to have your work published on a professional webpage
- One-on-one and group training in graphic design
- Time management skills
Time commitment: 10-15 hours total commitment over the course of two months.
SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT CREATION
Our social media is one of our primary communication platforms, and we’re looking for youth interested in helping us to grow it with fun, relevant, and informational content! You will be able to assist with our social media pages by conducting research and creating posts.
Content Creator - General Assistance
Create individual posts related to food and sustainability, for all of our social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter)!
What you’ll gain:
- Research and communication skills
- Graphic design skills, using Canva
- Teamwork and deliverables skills
- Creativity and critical thinking skills as you consider how messages are conveyed to an audience
- A chance to have your work published on a professional webpage
Time commitment: 3 month minimum, 2+ post designs / month on a self-selected schedule
Content Creator - Instagram Takeovers
Take over our Instagram page for a weekend (or multiple weekends)! Research, design, and execute a series of posts focused on a food systems or sustainability topic of your choosing.
What you’ll gain:
- Research and communication skills
- Graphic design skills, using Canva
- Teamwork and deliverables skills
- Creativity and critical thinking skills as you consider how messages are conveyed to an audience
- A chance to have your work published on a professional webpage
Time commitment: 1+ weekend, 5 – 7 posts per weekend on a fixed schedule
FOOD SYSTEMS LEARNING MODULES
Our learning modules are a newer project that give our youth another platform through which to communicate about food systems in a fun peer-to-peer format! We’re looking for youth interested in helping us to grow these modules, and make them publicly available, through researching, writing, and designing relevant and informational content into bite-sized pieces on EdApp.
Module Creator
Conceptualize, research, write, design, and/or publish modules. You’ll have a chance to select which aspects of the module creation you want to be involved with!
What you’ll gain:
- Research and communication skills
- Graphic design skills
- Teamwork and deliverables skills
- Creativity and critical thinking skills as you consider how messages are conveyed to an audience
- A chance to have your work published on a public platform
Time commitment: 3 month minimum, 1-5 hours/week on a self-selected schedule with some collab times.
SEASONAL OPPORTUNITIES
Please note that the availability of roles changes regularly. Please feel free to sign up for the role(s) that most interest you and we’ll be in touch to discuss what’s available.
YOUTH FOOD MARKET
* CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE – roles will re-open in spring 2024 *
Market Leader
Each year, a group of high school students interested in gaining food systems, business, and leadership experience take on a variety of duties (our “Market Leaders”) in our Youth Food Market. This role is comprised of two main elements: behind the scenes planning (marketing, graphic design, outreach and coordination, partnership building) & Market day operations (set up, sales and customer service, merchandising and produce handling).
** NEW for the 2023/2024 school year ** We have expanded our Market into a year-round project! Leaders gather virtually on a monthly basis to brainstorm ideas, create strategies, build partnerships with local farms and organizations, conduct community research, and more!
Time commitment: October 2023 onwards for 1-2 hours/week (flexible)
Please note: Market Leaders should be located in Waterloo Region and willing to take part in in-person activities.
Gardener
In order for our Youth Food Market to thrive, we need produce to sell affordably at our pop-up stalls. About 50% of this produce comes from local farm partnerships and 50% comes from food we grow in school and community gardens throughout Waterloo Region. We are looking for youth interested in digging in the dirt to make this happen!
Time commitment: June to early September, 1-5 hours/week, flexible.
Please note: Gardeners must be located in Waterloo Region and willing to take part in the project in-person throughout the summer. There will be several garden-based workshops and work & chat days with food mentors to participate in, in addition to regular garden maintenance.
