The Power of Place

November 8, 2024
Here at Parker, we believe in the power of place – the idea that real and meaningful learning happens when you are immersed deeply in experiencing the world around you. This belief was instrumental in guiding Parker’s founders to establish our large, nature-based campus, and it continues to drive our mindful creation of diverse learning experiences that fully embrace our 77-acres.
In our effort to raise active and engaged citizens, Parker also believes that place-based learning can be a powerful tool for creating organic experiences that connect our students to the wider world around them. This fosters a student’s sense of belonging to the world in which they are maturing, and encourages a sense of responsibility for their community. Last week, our Parker 6th & 7th graders immersed themselves in place-based education with an entire day dedicated to expanding and connecting programmatic learning that we started here on campus to regional, non-profit organizations in Troy, NY.
 
We started our day at Capital Roots, connecting our student efforts in our campus gardens to awareness and activism around food insecurity and equity. Parker’s gardens began as a joint venture between Parker, RPI, and Oakwood Community Center, when we were awarded the Rubin Community Fellowship grant in the spring of 2022. The objective of this grant was to encourage collaborative partnerships that would creatively work towards solving societal problems in our immediate community. Partnering together, Parker, RPI, and Oakwood envisioned a service learning program that would address issues of food insecurity from multiple perspectives. Last spring, Parker middle schoolers helped to build*, plant, and tend garden beds on our campus. They decided to grow butternut squash with the vision of harvesting and donating it this fall. Their trip to Capital Roots marked the culmination of this project, and also the beginning of what we hope will be many future partnerships.
 
Capital Roots in Troy, NY is a non-profit whose mission is to cultivate and nourish communities by creating equitable access to fresh food and green spaces in support of a robust regional food system. The organization welcomed us with open arms, took time to educate our students about their philosophy and values, and gave them a grand tour of their captivating facilities (walk-in freezers, veggie-mobiles, and a rooftop garden, oh my!). Parker students were able to weigh and donate their squash (10 whole pounds) to the kitchen staff, who will distribute it where needed. Students were then invited to flex their service muscles, helping Capital Roots to sort seeds from their donation bank for later distribution. As Erin Walsh, Parker’s Garden Coordinator, shared, “I hope this visit helped the students develop a broader understanding of our local food system.” We are so grateful to Capital Roots for their partnership in educating our students!
From Capital Roots, our 6th & 7th graders then moved to the Capital Region Arts Center for a pivot to an afternoon of art and science. Parker students joined their art teacher Claire Sherwood in the main gallery for a personal tour of their current exhibition, Little Brown Jug + Dig Deeper**, a show that Claire personally helped organize, facilitate, and install along with other artists and soil scientists.
As Claire explains, “I think it’s important to get the students out of the building to see art in context, to see projects finished and on display. This show in particular was really important for me to have them see because it blends art history and science together. As an artist, I fully believe that all artists work this way. Artists never work in a silo. This show is about unveiling all the research every artist does behind a piece of artwork. Here we actually show the labor of bringing other professionals in, and then linking the artwork to that…rather than just showing the final piece of art. We’re trying to make the invisible visible.”In addition to viewing the exhibition, Parker artists were invited to make their own pinch pots and crush their own Albany slip, which they will then use to glaze their creations back at Parker. Students were also thrilled to each have the opportunity to try their hand at wheel-throwing! The experience was met with a mixture of frustration, delight, persistence, and triumph as students willingly pushed up their sleeves and attempted to learn a new skill.
All told, within one 6-hour day, Parker 6th & 7th graders were able to engage with multiple real-world professionals and institutions fielding new and diverse information, interactions, and challenges. This is the value of the place-based education that Parker continually strives to provide. Whether out on our campus or in our wider community, Parker students thrive thanks to an education that centers them in their surroundings and asks them to participate, constructing present knowledge for future action. *A special thank you to the Whole Kids Foundation, whose grant allowed for the construction of the raised beds and purchase of soil and tools.
**The Little Brown Jug + Dig Deeper art show will be open through Saturday, November 16. There are still two free public events/workshops related to this show. You can register by clicking on the link above. To read a review of Claire’s art show in the Albany Times Union, please CLICK HERE.

We are so proud of our Parker students for the engaged and active citizenship they showed while voting in, and accepting the results of, Parker’s Emblem Election.
FEATHER was the winner!