Student Engagement

Paideia Farm is a resource to our entire school.

We are uniquely positioned and privileged to work within all divisions of the school, and have relied on excellent relationships with individual faculty members who see the farm as the incredible resource that it can be to reach students. This means that in the 22-23 school year, every Elementary student engaged with Urban Ag at least twice, often much more. In the Junior High, three home base classes and two specialist teachers brought their students to Pi Farm. In addition to multiple ways to individually opt in extracurricularly, High School students engaged via courses like Urban Ag, AP Bio, Neuropsychology, Medical Botany, Humans and the Environment, and various short term classes in addition to 10th grade Activity Day. 

Our Urban Ag program typically touches on one of these core subjects:

But this isn’t an exhaustive list. Faculty, staff, and students are all invited to engage with the farm in whatever way they like. Emily is here to help facilitate and always happy to talk or brainstorm. Come harvest kale with us, conduct a botanical drawing course, birdwatch, build an endangered amphibian habitat, read Ross Gay poems, etc., etc., etc.

Some topics students of all ages have engaged with on Paideia Farm include:

Seed Sowing

Soil Health

Compost

Food Justice

Herbalism

Pollinator Habitat Support

Greenhouse Mangagement

Fungi Cultivation

Integrated Pest Management

Invasive Plant Removal

High School

Urban Agriculture is a Long Term elective course taught by Emily with support from Erin and Cassie. It's also a course option for Short Term B. All HS Urban Ag students earn internship service hours that count toward graduation requirements. Topics covered may include: Food justice and community building through agriculture, building soil fertility, growing, harvesting, and bee keeping. 

High school students are also invited participate in monthly Urban Ag Workshops that are conducted with the growers at the Women's Transitional Center. These workshops are on Saturday afternoons and transportation is provided to and from school. Students are required to attend an orientation at the beginning of the school year to participate.

In the summer, Pi Farm hosts many high school interns who are completing service hours toward graduation, and we employs up to three high school apprentices for a more advanced job training.

All Sophomores participate in Urban Ag Activity Day in September, which is a day of service at Pi Farm and our partner farms.

Many Paideia sports teams have come together on the farm to accomplish hard things together. Team work really does make the dream work out here, and it's a special kind of conditioning you can't find in the weight room.

To learn more about any of the above, please contact Emily!

Urban Ag Club is run by student leaders Nevaeh, Emerson, and Ari. These after school volunteer opportunities are organized by them. If you're interested in Urban Ag Club, please reach out to a student leader.

Elementary science classes come to Pi Farm regularly to explore all aspects of farming and apply their learning of everything from the scientific method to pollinators to botany to goat behavior and beyond.

Elementary homebase classes also come to the farm to enhance their curriculum and their joy of learning. We want to work with all faculty members to get students on the farm as often as possible. To brainstorm possible connections to your central subject or to get a date on the calendar when you want to come by, please reach out to Emily!

Elementary

Junior High

We are excited to be an off-campus site at which our Junior High students can learn, bond, and serve the community. 

Emily is ready to work together with any and all members of the Junior High community to get these students to the farm more often!