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Hey there! Glad you could stop by to learn more about Green Bridge Growers, the innovative social venture with the mission of  growing good food and good jobs for young adults on the autism spectrum.

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Aquaponics Across the Spectrum

3/18/2015

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Green Bridge Growers has some very exciting things in the pipeline  - our first-ever aquaponics program for 6th- 8th graders! We are partnering with Edison Intermediate Center in South Bend to offer these afterschool enrichment workshops on March 17th, 24th, 31st and April 14th, and 21st.

Saint Mary’s professor Dr. Amy Gillan developed the workshops with her secondary science methods class and her Education 447 class, who researched and wrote the curriculum. Dr. Gillan said the goal of the workshops is to teach aquaponics with a focus on sustainability issues. Shella Raja, a Notre Dame biological science senior with a minor in sustainability studies, has been working on the workshops for her capstone project.  “We formed an interdisciplinary team of secondary education, science, and aquaponics specialists.  A group from Saint Mary's College and IUSB wrote the curriculum while Jan [Pilarski, co-founder of Green Bridge Growers] and I worked on funding, grants, approvals, and logistics of getting the program on its feet,” she said.

Shella said she wanted to partner with Green Bridge Growers because she felt the venture is doing something great for the community in a unique and innovative way. “They represent what more organizations should try to accomplish as far as creating opportunities for people of all abilities and promoting sustainability at the same time,” said Shella.

The curriculum is hands-on, with opportunities for middle school students to design, test, and evaluate their own miniature aquaponics systems. The students will also get a chance to examine their own ecological impact in terms of the foods they eat and how and where those foods are cultivated.

Throughout the workshops students will be learning about the environment, stewardship, plants, fish, aquaponics, and more! Each workshop will begin with an agenda. Then students will go through daily activities with the help of the volunteers from Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s College. In the later sessions, they will build mini aquaponics demo systems and display them at a concluding science fair. Shella thinks this part of the workshops will be the most memorable for students because they actually get to build something and see it work. Four volunteers from Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s College will be present to help during the workshops and the curriculum extends over five days.

Dr. Gillan is hoping that students will come away from the workshop series excited about science and design, gaining knowledge about what they can do to reduce the extent of their ecological impact on the Earth AND how aquaponics fits into that. She says, “We think that this curriculum will be particularly effective for middle school students because it is primarily hands-on, methodological, and calls for creativity”. 

Shella hopes this sets us up for a long-term partnership with Edison Intermediate and potentially other schools in the future. She is hopeful that students will gain an interest in sustainability for its versatility in all areas of life.

To parents and teachers interested in learning more about the program, Shella reports that “while this is a pilot program, we have worked so hard to bring this program to life. The good news is it's a great way to keep students engaged and interested in science outside of school!”

Shella’s favorite aspect of the program is that middle school students get to learn about sustainability in a unique way through aquaponics education. While aquaponics has been introduced to the curriculum at other schools, the Green Bridge Growers curriculum breaks new ground by incorporating the learning styles of students of different abilities, including those with autism.  Dr. Gillan and Shella both stressed, “Inclusivity is a big positive of the program”.

Sounds like fun doesn’t it?!

Check out the workshop website http://educateaquaponics.wix.com/aquaponics-education

Visit the Green Bridge Growers website at: www.greenbridgegrowers.org. Find us also on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and be on the look for our upcoming newsletter! 

--Nikki Charter


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Spreading Seeds of Hope: Community-Based Learning at GBG

3/5/2015

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Green Bridge Growers has been fortunate to have an autism practicum student assigned to us from Dr. Joshua Diehl’s psychology course at Notre Dame for the spring semester. Dynamic, full of energy, and always upbeat, Jackie Mack is a delight to work with.  Chris and Matt sat down with Jackie this week and did this interview so you can understand all the great contributions Jackie shares with us.

Matt: Where do you go to school, and what grade are you?
Jackie: I go to the University of Notre Dame, and I’m a junior.
Matt: Where are you from?
Jackie: I’m from Michigan City, Indiana.
Matt: How did you get interested in autism?

Jackie: I have a younger brother, William, who’s 14 now, and he was diagnosed with autism back when he was 3 ½ or 4, and that’s what really first got me interested.

Matt: Do you have any plans for after you graduate?

Jackie: After I graduate, I have plans of going to law school and actually working in disability law.

Matt: Why are you helping out with Green Bridge Growers?

Jackie: I’m here as part of my class, the autism practicum course that I’m taking, these are hours that are required for the class.  But aside from that, I think that just because people are born with some difficulties doesn’t mean that they don’t deserve the same rights and respect that other people do who don’t have those issues.  So I think you need to fight for those people and what they want.

Matt: What hobbies do you enjoy?

Jackie: This is going to sound really nerdy, but I just really like reading.  I love reading books in my free time, which I don’t get a lot of free time ‘cause I’m at school.

Matt: What’s a typical day for you as a Notre Dame student?

Jackie: Well, this semester, Mondays and Wednesdays I’ll start my day off by coming here to Hannah & Friends, and I go to class, and probably go grab lunch at some point, I go back to my dorm, I act like I’m going to do my work (laughs) but I really procrastinate, and I end up starting my homework at 9:00 at night, and then I get to bed by, I’d say 2.  And then I start all over again.

Matt: What classes do you enjoy the most at school, and what do you like the most about them?

Jackie: My two favorite classes at this point would probably be my autism practicum, which is why I’m here now, I love it so much because it gives me a more clinical look into the diagnosis that my brother’s had for so many years, and I’ve always been interested in that, and my education course, it’s early childhood education and policy, and it’s a class all about, as you would imagine, early childhood policy, how programs like Head Start are federally funded and mandated, and the legal processes that you go through, because I’m interested in going into the legal field, so I really like that class too.

Matt: All of us like to cook together.  Did you grow up liking to cook?  Do you have any favorite types of cooking or recipes?

Jackie: Oh my gosh...I’ve grown up with cooking all my life, my dad loves cooking, his mother--my grandmother--loves cooking, and I’ve grown up in that family very closely with them, so I’d say my favorite thing to cook was what I used to do when I was much younger when I would stay the night over at my grandparents’ house--my grandma would always have us making cookies, and she loved eating them.  And we always thought we were awesome ‘cause she would say our recipe was the best thing in the world.  Probably didn’t taste that much better than anything else (laughs), but she tricked us into thinking that it did.

Matt: Do you have any clubs or sports you do at school?

Jackie: I am very non-athletic.  I’m probably the most non-athletic person you can meet (laughs), so no sports, but I’m involved in a lot of black student groups on campus, and I’m actually the treasurer of BSA--the Black Student Association at Notre Dame.

Matt: What do you like doing the most during our time together at the GBG greenhouse and Hannah & Friends?

Jackie: Honestly, it doesn’t matter what we’re doing, you guys are fun to hang around and talk with, so any time we’re cooking, it’s always really fun being in the greenhouse.  Sometimes the greenhouse can get cold, but being here and being able to talk to you guys and interact with everyone, I really enjoy it, it makes my mornings.

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    About Us

    Green Bridge Growers is a social enterprise created to put to work the many gifts and skills of young adults with autism.  Our founders, Chris and Jan, are building an exciting venture that grows fresh local food and grows great jobs for autistic adults. We invite you to learn about us and follow our work! 

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Green Bridge Growers
61591 Bremen Highway
Mishiwaka IN 46544


574-310-8190
info@greenbridgegrowers.org

  • Our Blog
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