REGEN TEENS 2023!
Youth ages 14-19 | 9-month program: Spring, Summer, Fall
ReGen Teens employs teenagers as community gardeners, creative entrepreneurs, and environmental justice builders. This a paid employment opportunity that prioritizes youth ages 14-19 who are interested in building independent work skills and experience with a focus on food and environmental justice and the natural world.
Teen staff collaborate as a team to run money-making businesses (sign up for our compost business here!) that uplift environmental justice and community connections! ReGen work sessions are a mix of hands-on activities in food production, urban agriculture, nature appreciation, cooking, art creation, and regenerative business creation at Kite’s Nest’s greenhouse and gardens. ReGen teens deepen their land stewardship skills by visiting local farms, meeting other teens engaged in food justice initiatives around the Hudson Valley, and hosting community educational work days at the Kite’s Nest community garden.
Key themes and areas of focus for our ReGen Teens are food sovereignty, garden maintenance (including developing skills in cooking, canning, and preserving) and understanding of garden biology, the creation of youth-led businesses, and the connection to the land through plant medicine and collective healing. The teens have engaged in deep learning about regenerative agriculture, green technologies, organic waste, zero waste systems, soil science + remediation, cooperative business planning, and environmental justice.
Our long-term goal is to build leadership capacity within the communities most impacted by food insecurity, centering young people as change-makers, food producers, and educators.
REGEN TEEN staff bios
Ariel Is a ReGen teen staff member. She enjoys the physical work of composting and gardening. She learned about what composting is and how to do it. Ariel hopes to further broaden her knowledge about Composting. Her favorite thing to do at ReGen is to be around her co-workers as it is enjoyable to watch them interact with one another. Outside of ReGen, she likes to paint and design various things that she sells on her etsy (ArtistrymadebyAri).
Hi, I'm Valery. I started working at Kite’s Nest around the spring of 2022. Over the summer I got closer with friends and learned more about plants. ReGen has taught me how plants can help you in different ways. It is also used as medicine. My favorite thing to do at ReGen is going on trips and learning more about plants and what they grow at other farms. My favorite plant we grew in ReGen has to be the sunflowers. One thing I learned was how to harvest plants properly. I also want to thank the many people who have helped me develop and learn from the many experiences, thank you for the love and the hope you've inspired in myself to do in Kite’s Nest.
Hi my name is Jay’shon, I work for Kite’s Nest/ ReGen. I think I’m a person that barely shows that I’m interacting but when I do I interact fully. One of my favorite things to do here at Kite’s Nest is compost because I like chopping food scraps, even tho it stinks. I am good at telling what step the compost is in. If you come to ReGen I would be interested in showing you around the plants/community gar-den. I believe that ReGen made me want to compost more properly, so I can pass it on.
Adonis is the ReGen Teen Staff Mentor.
Hey, I’m Thomas. I am 14 years old and I am a freshman at Hudson High. I enjoy this job very much. I love watering and planting as well as the socialization I get from my peers. I am the kind of person who can get stuff done when it needs to be. I also enjoy the trips and meeting new people and seeing how their work life is different from mine. I also enjoy how ReGen finds ways to incorporate things we all like into the job like music. One thing I like to do is run, I am a very fast runner and I enjoy doing it. Something else that I really like to do is to draw. I mainly draw outside of school fun shapes and I also enjoy the style of graffiti.
Hi, my name is Kenneth. Many know me as Kenny, a friend, a relative, and a nice person who likes interacting with a variety of skills and learning many new wonders. I've been working and innovating many ideas and crafts at Kite’s Nest for over three years now! I am currently 16 and have been very thankful for the community, Kite’s Nest, and many others for supporting me. One of my favorite activities that occurred at Kite’s Nest is that we have many inspiring events and parties to celebrate, and many varieties of subjects. One of the many delightful things I personally like to do is gardening. Gardening helps people escape from many occurrences in life and brings you back to reality. Outside of Kite’s Nest I study Culinary Arts and strive to go to a culinary school that will benefit me and many others around me. I want to thank all the people who inspire and help me and the many who make me smile. Have a great day!
Hi, I’m Rihanna. I was with Kite’s Nest when I was younger. I recently joined ReGen over the summer after my friend told me about it,so I wanted to give it a try. My favorite thing I’ve done with ReGen is making smoothies. One skill I’ve learned was how to correctly water plants. ReGen has taught me new plants that I’ve never known before. Same plants that I’ve learned are the lemon basil, basil, mugwort, sunflower and many more.
Hello, I am Daija. I am 15 years old and I am a sophomore at Hudson High school. I am a natural leader and I make sure everyone is included. I enjoy being at ReGen. I especially like going on trips, they are very fun and very educational. I love the new experiences we have at work. Even though I am a very independent person I am also very good with teamwork. The thing I do best at ReGen is most likely planting and watering. I also enjoy how ReGen gives us more freedom and gives us choice about what we will be working on from time to time.
Hi I’m Romello i've been at Kite’s Nest since Fall 2021. One thing i learned while being at Kite’s Nest is how to compost properly. ”People need to compost more to make the world better.” Another thing I like to do at ReGen is put my hands in dirt because it’s relaxing. One thing I like to do outside of ReGen is make music, it's really relaxing.
Hi my name is Mariah, I work for Kite’s Nest specifically ReGen. I’m very mellow, I don’t have much of a reaction to anything. However, you will see an expression on my face if something disgust me (compost).I enjoy doing most of the handy work at the garden, things like building, planting, seeding, etc. My favorite thing to do at ReGen is building things for the plants. I’ve built beds and containers to hold compost in. My second favorite thing is “recognitions", mainly because it’s the end of the day and I get to hear what everyone appre-ciated about the day. Working with Regen, I’m able to take the skills I learned at Kite’s Nest and share them with my community. Teaching folks how to grow their own food would be very helpful. I’m also bilingual, so I’m able to teach dif-ferent kinds of people how to care for their plants in the future. I’m an artist as well, give me a plant and I bet I could draw it!
REGEN photo gallery
