Boys and Girls Club students walking the DeLeon Springs paths.
As part of the Community Resiliency Through Green Infrastructure project within the Spring Hill Community, the CEJ spent the summer working with the Lacey Family/Spring Hill Chapter of the Boys and Girls Club. Club directors Althea Ross Chavers and James Gunter have helped CEJ and project partners from the Green Volusia Program develop a relationship with club youth. During the summer, we conducted programs once a week at the club to teach the students about community resiliency through a variety of ecologically-centered lessons.
CEJ Director Margaret Stewart introduces youth to Earth Jurisprudence
The first session was conducted by CEJ Director, Margaret Stewart, who gave the group of high school and middle school students an overview of Earth Jurisprudence and the inherent rights of Nature. She followed the instructional component of the class with videos of youth from around the world who are taking a stand for the environment and making a difference. The students were extremely engaged in the video and eagerly participated in the next phase of the class, which focused on problem solving. Ms. Stewart asked the students to identify problems in their lives and/or community and led them in an exercise that taught how to find solutions and advocate for change.
UF IFAS instructor, Joe Sewards teaches youth about hydroponics
In the weeks that followed, the students visited the Volusia County’ Lyonia Environmental Center to learn about the aquifer and water cycle; planted Seminole pumpkins in their garden with the help of Green Volusia’s Megan Martin to learn about plant resiliency, and learned the difference between surviving and thriving through a series activities led by University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences instructors and master gardeners Joe Sewards, Lance Harding and Brittany Payne.
Lacey Family/Spring Hill Chapter of the Boys and Girls Club at DeLand’s historic Athens Theater
In the remaining weeks, the program included lessons on where our drinking water comes from (the aquifer), how we can impact the aquifer and our water quality, community gardens and local food, and an oral history of Spring Hill. The summer culminated in a film viewing at the historic Athens Theater in DeLand of “Water's Journey: The Hidden Rivers of Florida”, which depicts an underground adventure through Florida’s aquifer system.
This educational initiative has yielded very rewarding results for both the Boys and Girls Club and the resiliency project partners!