As with all AmeriCorps positions, there is a changing of the guard every year.
After several attempts to write an article that summed up my last year with the Montezuma School to Farm Project in a professional way, I gave up. My heart swells too hugely, and my appreciation for the host of people that I have worked with can't be contained. I've done my best to put to print a coherent and comprehensive survey of my work, my thoughts, and my gratitude to the people and places that have shaped my experience over the past year.
The School to Farm Project is a stage for transformative learning and countywide cultural change. I have seen its impact on students, teachers, and families and have felt it myself. The personal and professional development I have gained over the past year has far exceeded my expectations. I hope that my growth has also aided the cause of a healthier, more intelligent, and vibrant Montezuma County.
The combined efforts of myself, MSTFP staff, and our project partners have accomplished a lot for the School to Farm Project. Some highlights include:
A third school garden program installation at the Cortez Middle School.
Two new direct service AmeriCorps staff and a partnership with the Southwest Rural Homelessness Collaborative and La Puente in Alamosa.
Three new annual fundraisers.
New integrated school garden curriculum including a set of lessons focused on drought resilience and water usage.
The development of outreach material that has increased awareness of MSTFP on a local, state, and national level.
An organizational WIKI site to help create systems of order for staff and AmeriCorps.
A myriad other new partnerships locally and statewide.
It has been of paramount importance to learn how to build in long-term capacity for these projects. I don't think it's a lesson that comes with the training for every job. My notebooks, computer, phone, and desk were a personal bureaucracy of lists, contacts, records, tools, lists, plans, and lists. All that information needs to be transferable to the next person. On March 1, my office will be clean, and all signs of the struggle will be neatly collated on the online WIKI and in the electrical whir of the next AmeriCorps' computer.
I am perhaps most proud to leave behind the Cortez Middle School Garden Program. From gaining the trust of the students to working with the supportive administration, it has been an exciting and process. The garden is an outstanding outlet for the students. It has been wonderful to see them share our excitement about growing (and eating) food. With spring approaching, the garden is poised for growth, but it is still in its nascent stages. Over the next few years, the relationship between Cortez schools, CMS, MSTFP, and the greater community will be important for ensuring its long-term success. Alas, so much hinges on funding.
The highlight of my AmeriCorps term has been building partnerships with people and organizations. Montezuma County faces no shortage of intelligent, inspired and driven people that work tirelessly for the betterment of the county. I have loved collaborating with the Mt. Lookout Grange, LiveWell Montezuma, Jude and Addie Schuenemeyer, the Farm Hub, Betsy Harrison, Gretchen Groenke, Liz Bohm, Cortez Middle School, Mancos Valley Resources, the Dolores and Mancos Conservation Districts, the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, Paul Bohmann, Mary Vozar, Kellie Pettyjohn and all the other farmers that helped us as educators or supplied us with products for classes or fundraisers. This is only a few of the collaborations that have enriched my work. Those hands, which reached out to me in the beginning, have bound me to a human battery of energy, excitement, and potential.
I am still waiting to find out where I will go from here. No matter what, I will stay dedicated to the movement towards healthier, more just food systems. I hope that I will always maintain ties with the community that I have formed in the Southwest. For now, I am making room for our new AmeriCorps OSM/VISTA Danyel Mezzanatto. She is just off the train from Bend, Ore. She recently completed an AmeriCorps term as an Education Specialist at the High Desert Museum. She has a passion for connecting people to the outside world, using the community and the environment as a classroom and believes that access to healthy local foods is the foundation to healthy communities. Some highlights from her background include working as a summer camp counselor, leading backcountry trips, raft guiding, WWOOFing on farms both in the U.S. and abroad and pitching "as seen on TV products" at county and state fairs. In the few days that I've spent with her, I can confidently say that she is going to do wonderful things for the School to Farm Project. She has all those skills that I find myself lacking and will be a boon for the county.
I bid adieu to my family at the Montezuma School to Farm Project and to the cohort of inspiring people that I've had the opportunity to work with and befriend. Thank you.
Harrison Topp is an AmeriCorps volunteer.