Azariah Baker

Over the summer of 2024, I partnered with The Sanneh Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in Saint Paul that works to improve the lives of community based youth through educational programs, mentorship, and activity-based engagement.  As a Chuck Green Fellow, I partnered with them to lead an  Environmental Justice and arts-based curriculum for students ages 9–12 in their Summer program. 

My goal was to help students explore the concept of Environmental Justice. What it means, how to identify it in their own communities, and how to communicate their understanding through creative expression. Each day, students engaged in reflective journaling, created art such as our “Where we From” poems, and practiced being mindful and inquisitive explorers of the natural life in our neighborhood. We explored the differences between built and natural environments, discussed issues like food access and pollution, and rooted our discussions in local history to make these large concepts feel more tangible. 

A highlight of the summer was visiting a local garden, where students examined what different living organisms need to thrive and reflected on the connections between environmental health and community wellbeing.  This opportunity to participate in food sovereignty deeply excited the students. Moreover, we facilitated our learning through projects where we made our own paints from local plants, built small water purifiers, and did scavenger hunts at the local library  that taught students how to navigate the book database to find environmental justice literature at their own reading levels. 

Beyond the curriculum, this summer was about showing up for young people in every way I could. I found myself not only teaching, but supporting my students developing understanding of the world around them and the possibility of being active changemakers.