’Tis the season for summer internships, and more than 30 Twin Cities teens are embarking on a summer-long project with a local education nonprofit that teaches sustainability and entrepreneurship to youth throughout the city.
Spark-Y, one of Minne Inno’s “on fire” education or government organizations, offers hands-on learning experiences in school programs throughout the academic year, in summer internships, and at its own urban agriculture lab.
The organization works with 15 school partners and has others on a waitlist, and serves more than 2,000 students a year, Executive Director Zach Robinson said. Spark-Y’s approach to learning engages and empowers students, who don’t just learn how something like aquaponics works – they build an aquaponics system, grow microgreens, and sell them to local co-ops, restaurants, and community members.
At Edison High School in Minneapolis, students can enroll in special biology or chemistry classes, among other programs offered through Spark-Y. Roosevelt High School started the RUF (Roosevelt Urban Farm) Squad, a group that keeps up a garden and sells its produce back to Minneapolis Public Schools, which serves them in the salad bar on Fridays. Students considered using their profit to throw a party, but decided instead to invest it back into the program for the RUF Squad that would come after them – a choice that amazes Robinson.
“We’ve cracked the code and we’ve got something really special,” Robinson said.
Spark-Y was founded under a different name but with a similar mission in 2009. Early on, the board took a chance on an idea Robinson had to use aquaponics in classrooms. In 2013, the organization changed its name and hired Robinson to run the show.
“It was the right idea, the right time,” Robinson said. “They wanted to see this type of opportunity for kids of all backgrounds.”
This is the ninth summer Spark-Y has offered paid internships, and that program grows every year, Robinson said. They work in teams with a budget and a seven-week timeline to meet. Starting later this month, Spark-Y interns will undertake projects with Lube-Tech and the City of Minneapolis, and will maintain farms and gardens at Spark-Y school partners.
Last year, Spark-Y interns built the 2-ton aquaponics system that now serves as the Urban Agriculture Lab at the Casket Arts Building in NE Minneapolis. That’s where students can grow and sell microgreens. It’s also home to regular DIY “bio-hacking” events, where “biotech innovators, tinkerers and scientifically minded citizens” can use the lab to work on their own project, join someone else’s, or explore the space.
Like other educators in the state, Robinson looks at data on workforce shortages, as well as achievement gaps impacting low-income students and people of color. Robinson sees Spark-Y’s programs giving students job skills and experience and sparking their interest in STEM fields, whether from learning to operate a power tool or taking part in the complex process of growing food, resulting in better engagement in school and better grades. He wants to see this approach continue gaining traction in the Twin Cities and beyond.
“We’re on the cusp of continued big growth,” he said. “It’s a model that could be replicated and scaled.”
