BATH, Ohio — In this fast-paced world full of skyscrapers and sports cars, many careers seem more glamorous than farming. Many high school students associate agriculture with images of cows and cornfields, neither of which are very enticing to most students.
Crown Point Ecology Center is hoping to change that this summer with their pilot career exploration program, Taste of Farming.
Taste of Farming
Agriculture is more than just farming, and Taste of Farming will let students experience a variety of agricultural careers.
The program will focus on sustainable and local food, and at the end of the program, students will harvest their own food from the farm at Crown Point, prepare and eat it.
Lynn Gregor, director of Green Sprout Gardens, was hired by Crown Point to run this program.
She refers to the program as “career exploration, but also a summer camp,” and says even students who decide not to pursue a career in agriculture will learn more about where their food comes from through the program.
They will also walk away with a greater understanding of all the potential careers in agriculture.
Students in the program will visit small farms, a natural food grocery store, local chefs, a local food processing facility, Community Supported Agriculture and urban gardens. They will also visit with a plant geneticist and researchers from the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in Wooster.
Multiple organizations are working with Crown Point to host the program, including Mustard Seed Market and Cafe and the OARDC, who can provide resources for students who are interested in agriculture beyond this program.
Gregor said, for example, Ohio State’s Agricultural Technical Institute in Wooster has several two-year degree programs in agriculture and Crown Point also offers a farming internship program in addition to other educational programs.
Crown Point Ecology Center
Crown Point Ecology Center, a non-profit corporation, is an organic farm and education center in Summit County. It is dedicated to food security and sustainable land use.
Crown Point runs a number of other programs including a farming internship program and summer farm and science camp.
Taste of Farming is a pilot program offered by Crown Point Ecology Center with support from Countryside Conservancy and the Akron Community Foundation.
Registration
The application deadline is June 15. The first session will be July 10-15 and the second will be July 17-22 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day. The program will include van transportation to all of the locations students visit.
Space is limited to 14 students per week and responses to application questions will be considered for program acceptance.
The $50 application fee will be refunded if a student is not selected for the program. Applications can be found on Crown Point’s website. For more information contact info@crownpt.org.
