HARDWICK – The Food Hub hosted its first meeting in the Community Room, May 7, for the Vermont Internship Professionals Network (VIPN).
photo by Reeve Basom
As the multipurpose meeting and workshop space is in the process of being outfitted with both kitchen and conferencing equipment, the Center for an Agricultural Economy (CAE) is developing the guidelines and protocols for use of this new community resource.
To help test out the community room set-up and systems, CAE’s Place-Based Education Coordinator Reeve Basom partnered with Hazen Union School’s Work-Based Learning Coordinator Jen Olson to host a meeting of the VIPN with a focus on exploring the intersection of internships and place-based learning.
photo by Reeve Basom
VIPN members attending were educators and program coordinators from around Vermont. They joined featured guests representing a variety of relevant place-based education work that included the Sterling College Dean of Work Learning John Helms, Sterling College student and intern Isabel Kapitulik, UVM Internship Program Coordinator Kristen Andrews and an intern from the Northeast Kingdom UVM internship program, and Hazen Union students from the Recipe for Human Connection class.
The meeting was anchored by a series of small group discussions to learn from the work of guest presenters. Attendees then met in the community room as the Hazen students led everyone in making lunch and having a family-style meal together.
photo by Reeve Basom
The day finished with a group walk on the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail, which passes by the Food Hub. The gathering was “a great way to complete the day, digesting the good food and good ideas that had been shared,” according to a CAE newsletter.
“A key takeaway, both acknowledged in theory and felt in practice by the group, was the reciprocal value of place-based learning for all involved, as both students and community members deepened their sense of connection, purpose and possibility,” according to the CAE newsletter.
The CAE plans to share updates about the community room in the coming months.
Paul Fixx is editor of The Hardwick Gazette and lives in Hardwick.
