Well its come to that time of the year again when its time for bluesky! I have now been doing bluesky for many years actually since grade eight so I have a wide experience at this point. In grade eight we were told that we could do anything all we had to do was solve a problem. However as the years have gone on each year our topics have been narrowed down. Grade nine we were told that we had to fit in a specific age group and this year we were assigned to a group to help solve one of the United Nations sustainable living goals. These goals created by the UN are there way of trying to help the country as a whole. The problems they are hoping to solve range anything from poverty, economics and even the environment. So with this inspiration it was time to get started! 

As through previous years we followed the LAUNCH cycle. This stand for Look, Listen and Learn, Ask tons of questions, Understad the problem, Navigate ideas, Create (a prototype), Highlight and fix. So with this in mind we were then told what goal as well as what group. I was assigned the goal of economic growth. 

This goal was explained as “Goal 8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all“. I found this a difficult idea to think of something that I could solve in two weeks and so did the rest of my group. My group consisted of Michael, Aiden and Kate. As a group we cycled through many ideas and weren’t sure what to do. We were really struggling and didn’t have any idea what to do even though we were starting to have less and less time. That’s when our teacher said that we could do any topics out of the other groups. So with that in mind I got the inspiration to look into the seycove garden.  I had herd about a few celebrities and chefs who are truly invested in this idea. Here is the research I did on them: 

Garden Influencers:

Currently there are a few people who have influenced School gardens. These people feel that there is a reason why school gardens should be put in place in all schools. Some of the benefits that people recognize is that first it is good for the environment. Gardens in general are helping air pollution, peoples health as well as bringing the community together. Also the food that is produced through the garden will go to students or teachers who want fresh produce as well as donating the Food to the food bank so the less fortunate ones get to experience amazing food and be a part of there community. Another reason why you should volunteer in the garden is because it is actually a very enjoyable experience. I got the opportunity to help out at the seycove garden as well as at my own garden at home and you do get a calming experience out of it. These are just some of the reasons why huge influencers such as Jamie Oliver support school gardens worldwide

Jamie Oliver:

Jamie Oliver is primarily known throughout the world as an amazing chef. However he also believes that school gardens are an important part of the curriculum. Jamie called for a notion that “Every School should be a Growing School”. Meaning every school should have the opportunity to experience a garden

Alice Waters:

Is founder of the Edible Schoolyard Project. This a program where school gardens are encouraged and it is the students who enjoy and want the garden. On the website they state there mission as this “The mission of the Edible Schoolyard Project is to build and share a national edible education curriculum for pre-kindergarten through high school. Edible education connects the experience of school to the real, lived experience of our students. It prioritizes access to the healthy food that underpins all other efforts to give children a strong start at school and in life.” They believe that across North America we should have an edible education as it will help us in the real world. The edible schoolyard also has a great example of a thriving garden in California. King Middle School has over an acre and all cafeteria food is made from that food. Overall Alice Waters is an amazing advocate and inspiration

As you can see these people are truly invested and these are only two people! So imagine if we got many students involved at seycove.

At first I thought there was no garden and that there should be and then I talked to my teachers and they said there already was one. That was when I thought that if I didn’t know about it would others? This was the section of the launch cycle when I was Look, Listening and Learning. I looked into what the seycove garden was as well as what other people knew about it. I did this process by talking to Craig. Craig is a teacher at school who has taken the responsibility of the garden helped to get it started. I recorded this interview and then made it into a podcast. Here is that podcast: 

This interview helped lead me through the next two steps of the launch cycle as well. Asking tons of questions and understanding the problem. Once I fully understood what the seycove garden was and where it came from I could then go and ask fellow students if they knew about the garden and then finding out what would cause them to be interested in the garden. I did this by creating a survey asking these questions: Do you know about the seycove garden? 

Would you want to volunteer to help out at the garden during the summer? 

If you got service hours would you volunteer? 

What would you most like to see improve in the garden? 

Should there be a garden club?

 I found out through this google survey that more then 50% of the students did not know what the seycove garden was. So with that information I could step into step N, Navigating my ideas.

Navigating my ideas at first I wasn’t sure what I should do but then I realized I was looking at it to widely. So I began to narrow it down to an attainable goal. The first step I took was creating a poster that could be put up around the school to inform students that there was a seycove garden. Here is what that ended up looking like and this is also part of stage C Creating a prototype: 

Then I realized I would have to do more in order to truly make an impact so I looked through the answers to the questions I got and realized that students are more interested if they got volunteer hours. So I set up a meeting with Mrs.Craven (our principal) to see if it would be possible to allow students get volunteer hours when they help out. What she said what’s that this was actually a great idea and that this could definitely happen next year as well as a garden club. 

Then as it got closer to the end of the school year it was also time to think about how we were going to present this at the exhibition. I was put into the sustainable cities and communities group. This was made up of Ethan, Simon, Spencer and Adam and myself as the grade tens. The grade nines were Melanie, Tamara and Adlih and then the one grade eight was Annika. We all had differing topics though it was based around community and cities so we had the idea to make  our area into a city and have each project be a “shop”. I was happy with this idea as it was simple but then at the same time effective for a short prep time. Also as we had to have food and a game or activity we chose a lemonade stand as that is a way for kids to realize what goes into making a community and a board simply asking what you would like to see happen in your community and how you could improve it. Leading up to exhibition on short notice I feel that we didn’t overdo it however I do feel that we should have done more as it was fairly bare. Here are the pictures of the process of setting up as well as when we were done: 

We created a skyline of Vancouver on the whiteboard

Making the sign

This is what you saw when you walked into our exhibition

Our lemonade stand and sign

This was my table

And a closer look at the poster I created

Overall I was happy with how Blue sky went this year in the short time we had to get everything together. However I do feel that I should have gotten more of a physical model together and I could have done that by simply gotten my ideas together sooner. And if this is my final year I am happy with the evolution of how my bluesky has evolved since Garde 8. When I was in grade 8I wasn’t sure what I was doing and now that I have done it a few times I know understand and I feel that they have gotten more or less better every year. All in all I am happy with how this years Bluesky went and it was also a good reminder of the LAUNCH cycle and how these simple steps can help in so much!