Chicago Botanic Garden Summer 2019

28 chicagobotanic.org Garden and Pilsen school connect teens to the power of plants If you want to find Vincent Gómez this summer, head to the Instituto del Progreso Latino in Pilsen. He might be helping students create a sensory garden with plants selected for texture, color, and scent, such as colorful asters, fuzzy lamb’s ear, and fragrant mint. Gómez, the Chicago Botanic Garden’s manager of horticultural therapy ser- vices, is implementing its new HEALTH internship initiative. HEALTH, which stands for Healing Environments Ambassadors Learning rough Horticulture, is focused on introducing high school students to the many bene ts of nature and revealing how that can in uence the health of the entire community. “ e intention is to create a nature-based youth empowerment platform that can combine opportunities for learning and healing simultaneously,” Gómez said. “With HEALTH, we’re taking our focus from working on a clinical or small group basis and repositioning this type of practice so that it is more community based and collaborative.” e program is open to freshmen, sophomores, and juniors at Instituto, which draws students from Pilsen, Little Village, West Englewood, North Lawndale, Back of the Yards, and Chi- natown. It is a collaborative e ort with the school, the Garden, Forest Pre- serves of Cook County, Green Com- munity Connections, the University of Chicago, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. HEALTH’s 12-month program, which launched this spring, is keyed to the four seasons. ere are weekly experi- ential learning workshops, classes at the Instituto, 28 eld trips, along with an intensive eight-week paid summer in- ternship. e students will visit the Garden, the Forest Preserves, hospitals with healing gardens, and Chicago rms that model ecologically sustain- able business practices. rough the program, the students will gain social con dence and leadership skills. To that end, the HEALTH Ambassadors will work with video pros to produce a short-form documentary on their experiences for the One Earth Film Festival. ey will also meet with leaders and youth mentors from com- munity organizations and local univer- sities, giving them tools to understand the environment’s impact on their health, families, and communities. HEALTH’s hub is located at the Insti- tuto’s campus on Western Avenue, and how plant science and therapeutic hor- ticulture connect with STEAM (sci- ence, technology, engineering, arts, and math) learning is at the core of many of the experiential learning workshops. According to Angela Mason, the Garden’s associate vice president of community engagement and senior di- rector of Windy City Harvest, those who complete the HEALTH program have the opportunity to participate in Windy City Harvest’s Youth Farm pro- gram or the Veggie Rx program, which prescribes boxes of fruits and vegetables to food-insecure patients with diet-re- lated diseases. “ e Garden’s community engagement programs like HEALTH leverage strategic partnerships to make our pro- gramming impactful, meaningful, and sustainable,” Mason said. “We’re inviting young people to devel- op self-care habits and storytelling skills that will be essential to their suc- cess as the next generation of leaders in society,” Gomez said. And, as impor- tant, they will share what inspires them with others. “We want to invest in young people who recognize that their environment is something that directly impacts their health and empower them to help steward it proactively.” Learn more chicagobotanic.org/therapy Instituto del Progreso Latino