Katelyn Grasman, in yellow shirt, helping Sprucecourt students plant.
Hello! My name is Katelyn Grasman and I am a fourth year Early Childhood Studies student at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University). I have had the pleasure of working with Green Thumbs Growing Kids for the past five weeks as a part of my senior internship with TMU. As an internship student I have had the opportunity to learn and collaborate alongside my coworkers to implement in-person gardening programming at three local TDSB elementary schools. I have learned so much about planting, soil health, and the complexities of gardening and urban agriculture as well as the intersection of these concepts with children and education.
As an Early Childhood Studies student I have had a lot of experience creating learning plans and activities for young children in classrooms but have never had the opportunity to combine two of my passions; the outdoors and children. GreenThumbs has given me the opportunity to see how children in an urban setting can get involved in learning more about agriculture and the joys of gardening as well as how we as adults and educators can encourage and facilitate this learning. This internship experience has given me the opportunity to reflect on formerly created programs and how to strengthen them as well as how to work together with coworkers to create new programs for the children based on the space and resources that we have. Additionally, I have been introduced to many gardening techniques and had the opportunity to participate in planting, transplanting, watering, and repairing garden beds.
I have highly enjoyed working with all of my coworkers and believe that I have learned something from each of them that I will take with me into my future career, whatever that may be. My passion and interest in gardening and urban agriculture has definitely been heightened and I cannot wait to see how I can use these skills and interests in the future.
Katelyn, on behalf of staff, thank you so much for your wonderful service. It was a pleasure working with you!
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