Start of Summer Camp 2023

We are officially in the thick of our busiest time of the year: CAMP!

This marks Week 3 and we have been enjoying all of the activities so far and getting to know this new crop of students.

FHC Alum, Naomi Davis, is one of our Camp Directors this year and has been assisting the staff with putting together a daily agenda of what each of our Camp Teams is up to. It was fun to revisit this as I sat down to update you. It’s amazing what we have already done in these first few weeks as we got our sea legs back!

Week 1

Our first week was primarily a comprehensive introduction to the farm and farm practices. Our students learned out to weed, compost, plant, and how to care for our chicken coop.

We also started our daily routines: morning 4H pledge, yoga, mood check-ins, afternoon “Real Talk,” etc. Our partners were introduced to our students, including the Purdue College of Agriculture team, Major Tool & Machine, the Marion County Farm Bureau, and our Creative Writing instructors.

Week 2

A highlight of our second week? Hatching chicks in our chicken coop! What a fun lesson for our students.

We’ll be able to harvest their eggs (eventually) and integrate them into the rest of the farm program, but for now, it was so exciting to all of us to watch them slowly hatch.

However, it’s not just the hatching process that excites us. It’s watching the birds grow. We overcame the first hurdle within a day or two of them hatching this week – finding their food.

Each new milestone our chicks have will be a lesson for our students on how personal growth doesn’t have to be big and flashy. It can be small steps towards independence and maturity.

Additionally, our students were able to participate in a neighnorhood visioning workshop for black teenagers in firm and music at the Harrison Center and participate in Juneteenth activities with the Edna Martin Christian Center. Naomi also crafted a wonderful lesson plan around the meaning behind Juneteenth.

Week 3

So far this week, we’ve been engaging in a lot of maintenance, both at the Center and at Unity Park: weeding, watering, building trellises.

Jerry Swank help teach carpentry to our students. They are putting together picnic tables provided by the Hillside Neighborhood Association. We thank Hillside Association president Mr. Hawkins for providing the picnic tables!

Thank you for your support! 
Aster Bekele