LINK INTERNSHIP
What is LINK?
During junior year at Animas High School, every student is required to partake in a 3 week internship. This great opportunity encourages each student to pursue a possible career choice and to start more seriously considering future career paths while also cultivating lasting relationships within the professional world. Each student must find a business or organization and work closely with a mentor, someone that you reach out to personally, to experience what working in that field entails. Durning this time, students are completely immersed in the experience and do not go to campus for the duration of their internship.
Organic, Hydroponic Greenhouse Operation. Maintained by Pam Warman
A sustainable farm in Pucon, Chile. This farm consists of one 120 sq. ft hydroponic greenhouse, one 20 sq. ft greenhouse, and 1 20 sq. ft open air raised bed. This operation is built and maintained by Pam Warmen who sells produce to locals, restaurants and natural food stores in the area.
Resume
Anticipation and Preparation
For my junior year I went on Rotary Youth Exchange to La Serena, Chile. I went on exchange with the knowledge that I would need to complete my internship either in Chile or wait until I returned during my senior year. I was excited to look for opportunities in Chile but was fairly sure I would have to wait until my senior year to complete it.
The Chilean host family I was placed with created an environment that was increasingly unhealthy and draining. As my time with them continued, my desire, and near need, to get out, increased daily. My real family in the USA was aware of my issues and when my uncle heard about my situation, he offered a solution that would fix two problems, an escape, and an internship! He has a friend, Pam Warman, a chilean woman who spent 25 years in the USA, who had recently moved back to Chile. She had found a piece of land in the Araucania district of Chile and had started a sustainable, organic, greenhouse operation. She just so happened to be looking for help to grow her operation and the actual plants. While I was excited to take a break from my host family, I was also very pleased that the internship would be authentic. This was the sort of internship that I would have likely searched for here in the USA. It worked perfectly, it almost felt like fate. I reached out to Pam over email and explained the LINK Internship to her and expressed my hope to complete it with her. After several emails back and forth, she gladly accepted and I bought my bus tickets to Pucon, Chile. I left on a 18 hour solo trek down the spine of Chile with an odd sense of clam, something told me this is exactly what I was supposed to be doing.
The Chilean host family I was placed with created an environment that was increasingly unhealthy and draining. As my time with them continued, my desire, and near need, to get out, increased daily. My real family in the USA was aware of my issues and when my uncle heard about my situation, he offered a solution that would fix two problems, an escape, and an internship! He has a friend, Pam Warman, a chilean woman who spent 25 years in the USA, who had recently moved back to Chile. She had found a piece of land in the Araucania district of Chile and had started a sustainable, organic, greenhouse operation. She just so happened to be looking for help to grow her operation and the actual plants. While I was excited to take a break from my host family, I was also very pleased that the internship would be authentic. This was the sort of internship that I would have likely searched for here in the USA. It worked perfectly, it almost felt like fate. I reached out to Pam over email and explained the LINK Internship to her and expressed my hope to complete it with her. After several emails back and forth, she gladly accepted and I bought my bus tickets to Pucon, Chile. I left on a 18 hour solo trek down the spine of Chile with an odd sense of clam, something told me this is exactly what I was supposed to be doing.
LINK Project
As soon as I stepped off of the bus, we jumped into improving her world. When I first arrived to her property, leafy trees slumping over the dirt road, her impressive green houses and gardens came into view. We drove on, quickly coming to a wooden fairy house nestled between moss covered branches and surrounded by flowers. There was grass and bushes and tress everywhere, a welcome sight after 4 months in the desert. She took me on tour of her house, quaint, comfortable and homey, and then excitedly took me out to the gardens. We first went to the raised bed, rows of tomatoes, beans, carrots, and lettuces looking healthy and happy. She then took me into the first, smaller greenhouse. We were met by the heavy, moist air and the muted silence that I grew to appreciate so much. This house was filled with treys of brotes (sunflower spouts), arugula, watercress and other leafy greens I'd learn the names of. But most interestingly, more than half of the house was filled with edible flowers. These plants were beautiful, budding with red, orange, pink, and yellow edible flowers. It was beautiful. We finally wandered out and made our way to the last greenhouse, the huge one with the hydroponic system, whatever that meant. She opened the door and we stepped into a greenhouse covered in raised tubes stacked upon each other, with hundreds of micro greens held in each. In total she had 600 lettuce plants growing in this system. After seeing her gardens, I was in awe of all that she had created and maintained. I was absolutely stoked for the coming weeks and all that she would undoubtably teach me.
She spent the next couple of days teaching me the ways of growing. She taught me how to transfer baby plants out of their castings and into the beds in the greenhouse and raised beds. She taught me how to make new treys of brotes. She showed me the process of turning the compost into rich soil. She showed me how to water and trim and tend to the soil. After I began to get the hang of things, and she trusted my abilities a bit more, she brought me into the bigger greenhouse. This is where she taught me how to run the system and take care of all of the lettuces. This was fascinating because it was so different from normal growing techniques. Every plant was wrapped in a sponge that then touched the water within the tube. Each sponge had to be checked daily and the roots, being held by the sponge, to ensure they were not getting moldy. As I spent more and more time with the plants, I got more and more comfortable. I began to do things without her suggestion or supervision. I began to make soil from the compost and create treys of brotes on my own. I became confident in checking and maintaining the hydroponic system. I began to understand the plants. I helped in harvesting the produce and delivering to her various clients. I was becoming part of her world, and it felt like our relationship was growing along with the plants.
While our plants were growing, we were growing to become great friends. Because she lived in the countryside, wifi was unreliable and most nights our only form of entertainment was one another. We spent long days working in her gardens and the nights preparing organic fresh food and talk about life. We spent hours discussing her childhood and life journey, complaining abut politics, considering the possibility of God, exploring Tarot cards, laughing at jokes and talking about our futures. As we talked more about our futures, I began to see that she was wanting something more from her plants. She wanted to give them more of a meaning. As I thought about what they had meant for me, a savior from the sadness I had felt before I had come to her, an idea came to me. What if she were able to bring these plants to people that needed that connection, that healing through the Earth? I voiced this and it started the process that would become my project.
We jumped into brainstorming the next day. We agreed that the best way to do this was to create a camp for kids. A camp where kids could feel the power of sustainable living and the importance of using the Earth to live and grow. While Pam is very inspired, she struggles with organization. I provided the ability to plan in a way that was very helpful. We sat and I had her plan out what a day would consist of. We planned where they would sleep and what they would eat. We planned the days and the activities. It felt powerful, and achievable. As we continued to work in the gardens, we excitedly talked about what it could be. I then suggested we reach out to possible sponsors, to solve the funding issue. We drafted emails and sent them to connections within Chile and in the USA. Everyday Pam was thinking of other people to reach out to. We were excited. We set up meetings with local artisans to get their input. We hoped that they could teach lessons at the camp about culture, art and nature. They could help to impart the idea of being one with the Earth. I then offered to create a website, a resource for people interested and a marketing tool for the sponsors. This being very out of her realm, she was very excited. I set up a Weebly account for her and showed her how to use the tools. It all seemed to be going well, gardening and planning. But then, our main sponsor, that Pam thought would be the main investor, pulled out. Pam, as passionate as she is, took that as a huge hit, and stopped all planning. I tried to keep her inspired but she took this set back harshly and did not bounce back. This set back came at the very end of my, already extended by a month and a half stay, came to an end. Although my project never came to fruition, I still value the process of planning it.
Because my project was not a classic success, I look back on my Internship and focus not on my project but on the gardening skills, self healing and self discovery I experienced. I went down to this Internship with a broken soul. I was alone and beaten down and needed desperately to feel connected and alive again. On my internship a seed was planted inside of me and I grew along with the plants. The connection I felt to the plants, and the understanding I had about how to grow, both plants , and myself, was exponetial. This experience was wholly life changing. I now hope to bring this sort of healing to at risk children, to people that feel broken. I felt the power of the Earth and now hope o bring this power, and my new founded knowledge to people who need it. This Internship helped me to be re-planted into the world. I hope to re plant these ideas into the world.
She spent the next couple of days teaching me the ways of growing. She taught me how to transfer baby plants out of their castings and into the beds in the greenhouse and raised beds. She taught me how to make new treys of brotes. She showed me the process of turning the compost into rich soil. She showed me how to water and trim and tend to the soil. After I began to get the hang of things, and she trusted my abilities a bit more, she brought me into the bigger greenhouse. This is where she taught me how to run the system and take care of all of the lettuces. This was fascinating because it was so different from normal growing techniques. Every plant was wrapped in a sponge that then touched the water within the tube. Each sponge had to be checked daily and the roots, being held by the sponge, to ensure they were not getting moldy. As I spent more and more time with the plants, I got more and more comfortable. I began to do things without her suggestion or supervision. I began to make soil from the compost and create treys of brotes on my own. I became confident in checking and maintaining the hydroponic system. I began to understand the plants. I helped in harvesting the produce and delivering to her various clients. I was becoming part of her world, and it felt like our relationship was growing along with the plants.
While our plants were growing, we were growing to become great friends. Because she lived in the countryside, wifi was unreliable and most nights our only form of entertainment was one another. We spent long days working in her gardens and the nights preparing organic fresh food and talk about life. We spent hours discussing her childhood and life journey, complaining abut politics, considering the possibility of God, exploring Tarot cards, laughing at jokes and talking about our futures. As we talked more about our futures, I began to see that she was wanting something more from her plants. She wanted to give them more of a meaning. As I thought about what they had meant for me, a savior from the sadness I had felt before I had come to her, an idea came to me. What if she were able to bring these plants to people that needed that connection, that healing through the Earth? I voiced this and it started the process that would become my project.
We jumped into brainstorming the next day. We agreed that the best way to do this was to create a camp for kids. A camp where kids could feel the power of sustainable living and the importance of using the Earth to live and grow. While Pam is very inspired, she struggles with organization. I provided the ability to plan in a way that was very helpful. We sat and I had her plan out what a day would consist of. We planned where they would sleep and what they would eat. We planned the days and the activities. It felt powerful, and achievable. As we continued to work in the gardens, we excitedly talked about what it could be. I then suggested we reach out to possible sponsors, to solve the funding issue. We drafted emails and sent them to connections within Chile and in the USA. Everyday Pam was thinking of other people to reach out to. We were excited. We set up meetings with local artisans to get their input. We hoped that they could teach lessons at the camp about culture, art and nature. They could help to impart the idea of being one with the Earth. I then offered to create a website, a resource for people interested and a marketing tool for the sponsors. This being very out of her realm, she was very excited. I set up a Weebly account for her and showed her how to use the tools. It all seemed to be going well, gardening and planning. But then, our main sponsor, that Pam thought would be the main investor, pulled out. Pam, as passionate as she is, took that as a huge hit, and stopped all planning. I tried to keep her inspired but she took this set back harshly and did not bounce back. This set back came at the very end of my, already extended by a month and a half stay, came to an end. Although my project never came to fruition, I still value the process of planning it.
Because my project was not a classic success, I look back on my Internship and focus not on my project but on the gardening skills, self healing and self discovery I experienced. I went down to this Internship with a broken soul. I was alone and beaten down and needed desperately to feel connected and alive again. On my internship a seed was planted inside of me and I grew along with the plants. The connection I felt to the plants, and the understanding I had about how to grow, both plants , and myself, was exponetial. This experience was wholly life changing. I now hope to bring this sort of healing to at risk children, to people that feel broken. I felt the power of the Earth and now hope o bring this power, and my new founded knowledge to people who need it. This Internship helped me to be re-planted into the world. I hope to re plant these ideas into the world.