Our Intern Alumni event, a blast from the past!

Last Thursday Urban Roots hosted an Alumni gathering to meet and greet past interns and hear what they’ve been up to! Youth Internship Coordinator Pheng Vang has been busy sorting through contacts, sending out emails, Facebook messages and making many phone calls to reach out to all of the interns who have worked in the Garden, Conservation and Cooking programs since 1998. The event was an informal gathering with delicious appetizers (Egg Rolls from the Egg Roll Queen of course!), raffle prizes, a photo booth, good conversation and games.

We had a great turn out with former interns in attendance from the garden programs inception in 1998.  Some of them admitted they never really did like to weed, while others had much fonder memories of working together in the outdoors. Never-the-less what they all shared were how many memories they had working at Urban Roots as teens (some even broke into tears!) and noted the practical skills and influence their Urban Roots experience has stayed with them into their adult lives. It was great to hear some of the inspiring words and success stories they shared for the current interns in the program in attendance. Executive Program Director Patsy Noble has been a continuous force at the organization. She was the first Garden Program Manager at Urban Roots, (Community Design Center at the time), launching one of the first youth garden programs in the city, and voila, we had her first garden interns present and excited and proud to tell the tales of their first work experience. All of the Alumni attendees were happy and relieved to hear that we are still around today doing the amazing work we do….and we are too!