Sowing peace, science knowledge, and empowerment with seeds and a trowel
Heather Oakley Rippy founded Global Gardens in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in order to nurture children 鈥� to teach them about cooperation, critical thinking, confidence, and hope. Episode 3 of the 鈥淧eople Making a Difference鈥� podcast.聽
Planting radishes is really a means to learning self-control and critical thinking. That鈥檚 how Heather Oakley Rippy sees it.聽
The founder of Global Gardens started a program in 2007 that now reaches children in pre-K to sixth grade at 15 schools in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It also operates three community gardens. But what鈥檚 compelling about the Global Gardens approach is that its facilitators are sowing critical life skills in today鈥檚 racially and politically polarized world. The three core values underlying their efforts are science, peace, and empowerment.
Whenever kids are working on a project together, 鈥測ou鈥檙e going to have some conflict,鈥� says Ms. Rippy. But she adds that if you are 鈥渢eaching critical thinking, asking questions, working together in a peaceful way, working out conflicts, kids are going to be naturally empowered.鈥�
This story was sparked by a Monitor story about U.S. summer school programs聽that included a quote from Jenni Yoder with Global Gardens in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Episode transcript
听摆惭耻蝉颈肠闭
Dave Scott: That鈥檚 Heather Oakley Rippy, founder of Global Gardens. From the outside, Global Gardens [simply] teaches pre-K through 6th grade kids about gardening at 15 schools in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And they run three family food farms, or community gardens. But what drew my attention is the Global Gardens approach to teaching how to deal with conflict 鈥� arguably a critical life skill in today鈥檚 racially and politically polarized world. And it鈥檚 one of three core values behind their work: science, peace, and empowerment.
Welcome to People Making a Difference. A podcast about people who are, step-by-step, making a better world.
I鈥檓 Dave Scott.聽
Heather started this effort working with low-income students in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City while she was getting a masters degree at Columbia University in science and peace education. Then, she moved back home to Tulsa, and started Global Gardens in 2007. I asked her how she got started.聽
Dave Scott: And, I understand how any science teacher would turn to maybe botany or gardening as a way of teaching science 鈥� that gets them out of the classroom and gets them hands-on. But the idea of teaching peace and empowerment seems a little bit different to me. And yet those are core concepts. So help me understand how those three relate to each other.
Dave Scott: Can you give me an example of what you鈥檝e learned from your students about how to teach peace and empowerment?
Dave Scott: At this point Global Gardens educator Jenni Yoder Yoder joins our conversation. She鈥檚 been teaching mostly low-income elementary school kids in Tulsa for the past four years.
Dave Scott: Can you give me an example? So the second graders file in and you start a community circle and then what happens? How are they deciding on what their theme is for their garden or what they鈥檙e going to call it or whatever?
Dave Scott: I think I would enjoy a pizza garden. But I want to go back to some of the other concepts of peace and empowerment a little bit more here. I think I read on your site that you have the process of establishing group expectations with the kids and then using a peace table to resolve conflicts. Can you explain those ideas and how they work?
Dave Scott: And once you鈥檝e got those expectations, you write those down. Do you review them regularly? Or how do they remember what those expectations are?
Dave Scott: You also referenced a peace table to resolve conflicts. Can you address that idea?
Dave Scott: Are the challenges facing Tulsa kids today, different from say 2007, when you, when you started the program, Heather?
Dave Scott: Jenni, when you hear that, do you think that the context for these kids has changed much?
Dave Scott: So Jenni, you told a Monitor reporter that gardening is a metaphor for life. But you also said the garden can be disappointing. Can you tell me about that metaphor?
Dave Scott: So I want to ask you this question 鈥� and Jenni, you hinted at that just now. How has working for Global Gardens transformed each of you?
Dave Scott: I should note that, today, Heather is a consultant to Global Gardens. She stepped away from day-to-day management five years ago. But under the new executive director, Marianne Donahue, the program continues to grow with annual funding of $1 million and a staff of 22 people.
Dave Scott: And how about you, Jenni, how has working at Global Gardens changed you?聽
[Music]
Dave Scott: That鈥檚 great. You鈥檒l notice we didn鈥檛 talk much about gardening or botany or pollination. That鈥檚 because at its core Global Gardens isn鈥檛 about creating little gardeners. It鈥檚 a program about raising children to think for themselves. To learn how to resolve their differences, manage their emotions. Develop confidence. And as Jenni said, 鈥渢hat鈥檚 pretty cool.鈥�
So, Is there a peace table in your home? The next time someone gets angry,聽 try sitting down (after they cool off) and seeing if really listening makes a difference. Call me and tell me how it goes. Call me at (617) 450-2410 and leave me a voice message about it. That鈥檚 (617) 450-2410.聽
I鈥檇 like to thank executive director, Maryann Donahue, for making today鈥檚 podcast possible.聽
Thanks for listening to People Making a Difference, a podcast about people who are, step-by-step, making a better world.
Copyright by 海角大神, 2021.
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