MINNEAPOLIS - Behind an unassuming store front in south Minneapolis, Bobby and Laura found a wealth of inspiration...both for them and for those who are working hard on the inside. On the surface it's about aquaponics.
"We use the fish waste to provide the nutrients for our plants. Basically, we feed the fish and the fish produce waste that contains nitrogen but the nitrogen is in a toxic form for the plants. So bacteria in the soil and in the waters and around the plant roots changes the nitrogen into a form that the plants can consume," said Chris Fong, a student from St. Louis Park.
Students sell the microgreens they grow to metro restaurants for a sustainable, clean and local food source.
But Spark-Y, a program already in 12 area schools, is accomplishing much more than selling salad.
"Throughout the entire scope of the program they are starting to hit all these different subject areas that are traditionally siloed off and it makes a really exciting, engaging, hand on education model," said Spark-Y co-founder Zach Robinson.
Minnesota Internship Center Freshman, Maya Toney describes it as using "a lot of problem solving, a lot of critical thinking." Her favorite part? "Probably would be looking up all the different types of designs that other people have done and then deciding how to put together your own."
For Fong, "Just the experience and being able to know how the system works and maybe like potentially like I could do like a very similar system to Spark-Y or have my own business to like collaborate with them."
Robinson adds, "This is a vehicle for an experience that changes a young man or woman's life."That's a big claim, but Kelly from Roosevelt High School is proof of that statement.
"In the past, we've been seen as the bad school, the dumping ground for people who are unwanted. But what we are really trying to work with this program and programs like it is to get back our reputation. To get back the fact that we're not all delinquents. We're trying to make a difference in the world too," he says.
You are, Kelly!
Spark-Y has a crowd-sourcing page for you to help them out! You can see what they are doing at an open house on April 2.