Hi Fearless Fam!
This summer, Fearless Ideas is continuing our collaboration with Youth Tutoring Program (YTP) at our Yesler Terrace location. YETI interns, YTP volunteers, and Bailey Gatzert elementary students met at Yes Farms every Tuesday of the summer! Yes Farm is a large community garden on Yesler Way that provides space and produce to the community. Its garden beds are full of healthy crops like squash and lettuce! There's also a greenhouse and outdoor classroom space.
During our time in the garden, one of my favorite activities that we worked on was the "Name that Name" prompt from the Seattle Public Library "Summer of Learning" poster. The prompt is, "Names are full of power and stories. What stories are inside yours? What does your name mean? How was it chosen? What do you like about it? Share the story of your name inside the letters or around it. Surround with names of people who will explore this poster with you."
We talked about the names of the Yesler community, such as Skid Row and Sdzidzilalitch (the Little Crossing Over Place). When we were learning about the meanings of names, I was amazed by the stories and symbolism behind them. For example, my name is Sino-Vietnamese, which I connected to my ethnicity. I wrote that my name represents my culture, heritage, and ethnicity.
It was a powerful experience hearing our scholars describe their names and what it meant to them! They associated their identities, their values, and their nicknames with their names. For example, family or religion.
Together, we wrote poems about what our names mean. We decorated the garden space with these poems, and celebrated their creativity! See the photo below to read a few of our name poems!
Until next time,
Tuyetlam
This post was written and editor by Tuyetlam, Yesler Education Team Initiative Intern
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