By Dr Kim Williams-Pulfer

“To plant a garden is to dream of tomorrow” is a quote attributed to the late actress Audrey Hepburn. To many who read it, this quote may signify how nature’s benefits, activated by human ingenuity, can serve as a gift for future generations. If we extend the quote’s meaning and consider nurturing the next generation, we can also cultivate gardens of opportunity for youth, allowing communities to reap immense future benefits. These benefits include the adults of tomorrow having the confidence to articulate their needs and aspirations while possessing the various tools they need for future success.

I recently participated in and observed one such effort of planting initial seeds of impact through a garden planting and youth building exercise organised by One Eleuthera Foundation (OEF). Last week, OEF presented a hydroponic tower growing system to Preston H Albury High School’s Agriculture Department. The presentation included an engaging lettuce-planting session with students, board members, and community partners. While learning more about this innovative method of hydroponic growing, the engagement with students offered another powerful learning opportunity.

During the exercise, 11th-grade students showcased their curiosity, poise, humour, and care for each other as three teams competed for the best hydroponic planting. I spoke to several students but had a more extended conversation with a young man named Max, who brought a conscientious planting technique and articulated his vocational aspirations. During the presentation to students about the school gardening project, speakers described farming as a viable career for young people. While this is an accurate statement, when I asked Max if he wanted to be a farmer, he shook his head and said no. Despite his interest in farming activity, I learned that Max had an even greater passion: carpentry. I also asked him if he was looking forward to the summer, and he said he was not. I was intrigued and told him that I didn’t know of any high schooler who didn’t look forward to a vacation from school. It was his response that planted a seed of truth in me. Max was not interested in summer break because he knew he would lose out on his carpentry courses at school. I watched his eyes light up as he elaborated and described his carpentry lessons. It was clear that his passion for carpentry exceeded his desire for a vacation.

It made me think of the many potential opportunities that young people crave. Across the archipelago, students want to enhance their passions and interests. Like emerging buds, housed within them are great possibilities for growth. Research shows that oftentimes when youth engage in negative behaviours, it is because they lack sufficient outlets that support their positive development. While it’s easy to judge young people engaged in unhealthy behaviours, as adult leaders, we should also realise that we possess a rich soil of resources that we can make available to young people who want to thrive. Are we adequately listening to the dreams and aspirations of the next generation and then co-designing learning pathways so they can harvest success for themselves, our nation, and the world?

My interaction with Max as he expressed his specific interests in learning and career support also resonates with the perspectives of young people around the world. In a survey designed by The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH), the world’s largest alliance for women’s, children, and adolescent health, asked young people to complete the sentence, “To improve my well-being, I want...” 700,000 youth respondents indicated that that the most valuable need for their well-being was getting the right amount of education, skills, and employability. Yet, as the World Economic Forum (WEF) indicates, only one in four young people have the skills they need for the future. WEF proposes four steps that adults committed to youth leadership and learning can invoke to cultivate lush possibilities for youth. These include: 

• helping youth identify career avenues early on, 

• creating numerous pathways for their skill development, including clubs, volunteering, or internships, 

• supporting the cultivation of community spaces so young people can discuss critical issues while crafting solutions,

• guiding young people to lead by encouraging other youth to carefully plan for their future.

Along with WEF’s recommendations, I took Max’s rich insights to heart, especially as an educator and board chair of the Center for Innovation and Training (CTI), OEF’s sister organization. At CTI, we create educational offerings for career development and engaged citizenship, as graduates provide immense intellectual, social, and economic contributions to their communities. Creating opportunities for young people who want to continue to grow in their budding interests requires programs and opportunities created by the staff of organizations like One Eleuthera Foundation and the Center for Training and Innovation. However, organizations like ours cannot go at it alone or operate in a silo. 

This immense national undertaking requires a coordinated response that includes committed teachers, volunteers, generous donors, youth-focused organisations, and engaged corporations working together to cultivate leadership that shapes the future. Using the steps provided by WEF, national-level collaborative efforts can ensure that all students in this country have deep exposure to a wide range of pathways for their future success, early on, year-round, and at a pace conducive to their learning styles. 

Imagine the possibilities if those of us who haven’t done so already but who have access to internships or community volunteer opportunities, made space for young people to nurture their interests. With someone’s generosity, Max could have his carpentry course extended this summer. For those not engaged in this kind of practice, a rich bounty of opportunities is available, including adopting a school, sponsoring a summer program hosted by a youth-focused organisation, or even inviting a student to work as an intern. 

Max’s yearning serves as a point of illumination for us all. Through deep listening to youth, we can create programming supported by funding and long-term partnerships that foster and sustain the potential for growth within our young people. We can use our collective resources to plant many kinds of gardens of tomorrow with and for the next generation.

• Established in 2012, the One Eleuthera Foundation (OEF) is a non-profit organisation located in Rock Sound, Eleuthera. For more information, visit www.oneeleuthera.org or email info@oneeleuthera. org. The Centre for Training and Innovation (CTI) is the first and only postsecondary, non-profit education and training institution and social enterprise on Eleuthera. CTI operates a student training campus in Rock Sound, Eleuthera, with a 16-room training hotel, restaurant and farm. For more information about CTI’s programmes, email: info@oneeleuthera.org.