This is part of a series about Mission Thrive Summer, a program of the Institute for Integrative Health and Civic Works’ Real Food Farm that empowers youth with skills and knowledge for a healthy life.
Mission Thrive Summer crew leaders have been farming and training for the past two weeks, and plan to spend the next five weeks working alongside the program’s youth participants by leading, teaching, and mentoring them. This year’s team includes a former student participant and a few new faces. Get to know our 2016 crew, Shabazz, Vanessa, Kelsey, Raven, and Annina:
SHABAZZ
- Education: City Neighbor High School
- Hometown: Baltimore
- Why Mission Thrive: I like being outdoors instead of being in the house.
- Career Goals: Wants to do computer programming or become an architect.
- Enjoys about Mission Thrive: The field trips and the cooking experience.
VANESSA
- Education: BA, Cultural Studies and Political Science, Brandeis University
- Hometown: Rhode Island and Boston, Massachusetts
- Why Mission Thrive: Excited to be helping and working with a more consistent group of students and a group of people I am close to in age that I can relate to.
- Career Goals: Continue farming, create social change, and make art
- Enjoys about Mission Thrive: I like working on the farm and being outdoors.
KELSEY
- Education: BA, Sociology, University of Delaware
- Hometown: Wilmington, DE
- Why Mission Thrive: MTS helps people to become very self aware and kind of tries to combat all of the issues that come up when you are trying to do good things for people. Taking from what they’ve learned in the past and making it the best possible thing it can be I think that’s really cool.
- Career Goals: Wants to work public health
- Enjoys about Mission Thrive: I like being outside.
JONATHAN
- Education: Baltimore School for the Arts
- Hometown: Baltimore, MD
- Why Mission Thrive: It seemed cool. I thought it would be a great opportunity, and I missed this place.
- Career Goals: To become a singer.
- Enjoys about Mission Thrive: Meeting new people.
RAVEN
- Education: BS, Health Science and Community Health, Towson University
- Hometown: Baltimore, MD
- Why Mission Thrive: I like the possibilities of impacting someone else’s life.
- Career Goals: I would prefer to farm or work outside, I couldn’t image not spending the majority of time outside. Farming and gardening is what I would do.
- Enjoys about Mission Thrive: Working closely with them (youth) to share my thoughts and ideas and expose them to whatever it is I know about healthy eating, farming, physical activity, and being a healthier person.
ANNINA
- Education: BA, Anthropology and English, Towson University
- Hometown: Rockfish, North Carolina
- Why Mission Thrive: I wanted to be connected to the youth in Baltimore.
- Career Goals: To join the Peace Corps and do ecological restoration and farming overseas.
- Enjoys about Mission Thrive: I love the whole process of watching the earth grow.
