Adolescent Occupations Bundle (Six Seminars)

Real work · 3 afternoons / week

Three afternoons a week at a working farm, urban garden, food bank, or community kitchen. Students participate in actual production, harvest, distribution, or food preparation alongside adults doing the work.

Seminar mornings · 2 / week

Two mornings: one on the science of food systems (soil, ecology, nutrition), one on the politics of food (sovereignty, access, labor, justice). Reading from contemporary food-systems thinkers.

Six-week deliverable

A working contribution to the partner site (a planted bed, a finished meal cycle, a documented process), plus a written reflection connecting the work to the larger system.

Real work · 3 afternoons / week

Three afternoons a week with a builder, architect, urbanist, housing organization, or community land trust. Students engage with actual construction, design review, or housing advocacy.

Seminar mornings · 2 / week

Two mornings: one on the principles of design, materials, and structural reasoning; one on housing as a justice question — zoning, displacement, ownership, who gets to live where.

Six-week deliverable

A documented contribution to a built or designed object, plus a written analysis of the housing or design context students were working inside.

Real work · 3 afternoons / week

Three afternoons a week with caregivers, elder care, early childhood programs, or community health. Students participate in real care work alongside professionals.

Seminar mornings · 2 / week

Two mornings: one on the ethics and practice of care (reciprocity, dignity, intimacy of care work); one on care as a labor question (paid vs unpaid, gendered, racialized economy of care).

Six-week deliverable

Documented care relationships built across the six weeks, plus a written reflection on what care reveals about the political economy.

Real work · 3 afternoons / week

Three afternoons a week at a small business, cooperative, mutual aid network, or trading floor. Students engage with real commerce — buying, selling, accounting, customer relationships.

Seminar mornings · 2 / week

Two mornings: one on the mechanics of commerce (margin, pricing, accounting, supply); one on the ethics and history of exchange — capitalism, alternatives, what fair exchange means in practice.

Six-week deliverable

A documented commerce engagement (a sale completed, a budget reconciled, a transaction analyzed), plus a written reflection on what they learned about exchange.

Real work · 3 afternoons / week

Three afternoons a week with a journalist, podcast producer, community radio station, school communications office, or independent media outlet. Students contribute to real publishing.

Seminar mornings · 2 / week

Two mornings: one on the craft of communication (clarity, voice, narrative, audience); one on media as power — who gets covered, who gets to cover, who owns the platform.

Six-week deliverable

Published or broadcast work the student contributed to, plus a written analysis of the media environment they were operating in.

Real work · 3 afternoons / week

Three afternoons a week in a repair shop, maker space, lab, environmental remediation site, or restoration project. Students engage in actual scientific practice or skilled repair work.

Seminar mornings · 2 / week

Two mornings: one on scientific reasoning and the practice of repair as material engagement; one on what science is for — extraction, restoration, repair as a politics.

Six-week deliverable

A documented repair, restoration, or scientific contribution, plus a written reflection on the ethic of fixing what is broken.