Buncombe County Schools students have been applying knowledge and skills learned to help farming families recover from Hurricane Helene.
Five students from North Buncombe High School and two from Enka High School recently completed the WNCStrong Youth Service Corps program, a seven-month internship that provided hands-on learning opportunities for students as they assisted farmers working to repair their land.
“This program has made and continues to make a real difference in peoples' lives in our communities,” said WNCStrong program director Dr. Eric Klein. “As one host farmer described the Corps, ‘it was an impetus to keep going because I had the help.’”
The BCS students, working with teacher mentors at each school, also had a chance to team up with WNCStrong interns in Yancey and Mitchell counties for larger-scale projects.
“Students have been weeding, planting, fertilizing and mulching. They're building fences and trellises, along with building relationships with mentors in their communities,” Dr. Klein explained. “They're shearing rescued sheep, moving lumber sawn from hurricane-downed trees and setting tomato plants on fields whose soil has been scrapped and replaced. Importantly, they're also arranging schedules with each other, meeting deadlines, and practicing communicating in the adult working world.”
Through WNCStrong, students also had the opportunity to attend career readiness workshops. Earlier this month, they joined their teachers and program coordinators for a special ceremony marking the end of their internship.
BCS students from Enka High School were Ross Franklin and Elaina DeWeese, with teacher mentors Alex Frye and Josh Justice. North Buncombe students participating included Addison Sprinkle, Hunter Crowder, Hayden Jameson, Aidan Flynn, and Jake Hale, with teacher mentors Justin Gillespie and Andrew Shelton.
The WNCStrong Youth Service Corps program is funded by the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the North Carolina Alliance for Health.