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July 3, 2025 | Education

Summer Stories: Youth Development Program, Week 1

Our Summer Youth Development Program kicked off June 30—and the first week was all about growth, learning, and action!

kids at farm

The Youth Development Program is a paid opportunity for high-school-age students to develop and hone various skills in preparation for life beyond the classroom. The summer session is called the Seed Crew, and is 8 weeks of working, learning, and connecting as a team.

The 2025 season kicked off with excitement as we welcomed 15 students to the farm for this year’s Youth Development Program. This season brings a great mix of returning leaders and new team members. Interest in the program was especially high this year, and it was wonderful to see everyone together for the first time.

We’re also introducing a new structure this summer: the Root Crew method. Four Root Crew Leaders—returning students who have completed leadership and skills training—are each leading their own crew of two to three students. On the first day, we focused on team-building activities to help everyone get to know one another before diving into farm work the following day.

As always, we began the program with a mix of orientation, tours, and games. Students explored the farm and tested their plant knowledge in each plot with our Farm Mapping activity—doing surprisingly well, thanks to the guidance of their Root Crew Leaders. We also toured the main office and enjoyed a break in the air conditioning with a round of Farm Trivia.

youth at sink youth cooking youth at farm

Later, we returned to the farm for lunch, more orientation, and a special visit from Matthew 25 founders Clint and Courtney. They shared the story behind Matthew 25 and the creation of the Urban Farm, along with their hopes for the students this summer.

The rest of the week was filled with hands-on farm tasks, the students’ first visit to Groundswell Cafe to help prepare Good Meals To Go, and more team-building activities. It was a short week due to the holiday, but we’re already looking forward to a full week ahead!