East Hampton High School Students Fight Hunger and Climate Change

Stella Brecker popped a red cherry tomato into her mouth after accepting her certificate as being a part of East Hampton High School’s inaugural ReWild Long Island East End 2023 Summer Program to Fight Hunger and Climate Change.

The group held a commendation ceremony celebrating the school’s student volunteers on Tuesday, September 19, at the ReWild Pollinator Garden, located at the high school on Long Lane. The garden was blossoming with flowers, tomatoes, pumpkins, watermelon, milkweed, and multiple other herbs and plants. Butterflies and caterpillars enjoyed their new home at the high school as the students accepted their certificates for creating the school’s first pollinator garden.

Starting in late June, the nine East Hampton students in the program volunteered at nonprofit organizations focused on sustainability and biodiversity and contributed over 200 hours of community service while juggling summer jobs, independent study projects and family responsibilities.

ReWild supplied the group with $800 worth of plants to jumpstart the project and a drip system.

“This is our first effort to bring ReWild out East, and I am so happy and appreciative of everyone that practiced this summer and made this possible,” Leonard Green, an organizer of the ReWild summer program this year, said while standing in the garden among the butterflies and students. Green explained that the students helped keep the garden in tip top shape with the help of his ReWild co-chairs, Nancy Erber and Gloria Frazee, who also attended the ceremony.

“We planted a seed this summer and we hope to see it grow,” Green said, adding that to make the seed grow, the group needs participation from students and outside environmental groups. “We need to take care of our natural resources and we hope to see it grow into a bigger program.”

Partner sites this season included Share the Harvest farm, where students harvested hundreds of pounds of vegetables like kale, squash and zucchini, along with bundles of fresh herbs, bouquets of sunflowers, heads of garlic and close to 2,000 pounds of tomatoes. Ninety-seven percent of Share the Harvest’s produce is donated to local food pantries. Field Manager Matt Quirk and Carmen Quintuna supervised and organized as the student volunteers worked on the farm.

Quirk explained that the students donated their time to the nonprofit organic farm to pick vegetables to donate to low-income housing and the local food pantries. On some afternoons, they picked over 800 pounds of tomatoes in just a couple of hours. “You don’t think about it in the Hamptons, but there is a lot of food insecurity out here,” Quirk explained.

Students volunteered on the high school campus organic vegetable and pollinator gardens and learned to identify indigenous trees and shrubs with an expert guide from Montauk Third House Nature Center, thanks to Vicki Bustamante. Every Saturday at Springs Farmers Market, students collected and sorted nearly 2,000 pounds of food scraps, while educating the public about composting with the help of East Hampton Compost and Gloria Frazee. They learned first-hand about sustainable garden design at Edwina von Gal’s Marshouse and at ChangeHampton’s Town Hall pollinator garden.

“I think we should be grateful that we have so many supportive people here. I am happy that I got involved in this program,” student Stella Brecker said.

Lola Garneau was thrilled to find out that there are so many people in East Hampton that care about the environment, she said while receiving her certificate. “It is one thing to be mindful about the environment and to be conscious of your footprint and impact on this Earth. This summer has taught me what it feels like to know that I am helping and that I am making a difference.” She added that it was helpful to make connections with other local environmentalists. “The future is bright in East Hampton,” she said of the ReWild program.”

The East End summer program is intended to foster leadership skills and stimulate students’ curiosity about the natural world and provide structured hands-on experience in the rich cultural and natural East End landscape.

Hope Masi said that she enjoyed this summer working in the garden and learned a lot about the environment and local community.

Stella Peterson said a big takeaway for her was “learning about all of the biodiversity that we have here.” During trips to the LongHouse Reserve, a sculpture and outdoor art garden surrounded by 16 acres of land on Hands Creek Road in East Hampton, the students were able to explore the flora and fauna of the vast natural space. The students explored biodiversity with LongHouse Reserve experts Carrie Rebora Barrat and Jason Amis.

Composting was a part of the summer Kelly Pucuna was not too fond of.

“The most hated part was going through the compost — you would find meat, and mold sometimes. My favorite part was just doing that together, going through the compost together,” Pucuna said as everyone laughed and clapped.

Getting to work in the garden was Sophie Riva’s favorite part.

“I spent a lot of time here, weeding and planting,” she said. “I planted those tomatoes and they’re so tall. It’s amazing to see the progress.

Abraham Stillman accepted his certificate and explained that “ReWild for the community is a great opportunity to learn about the local environment and become immersed in the environment.” Another big part of the educational aspect was learning about everyone’s impact on the ecosystem and how to promote sustainability.

Karen Defronzo, in charge of the East Hampton High School Garden Club, said, “it’s been such a wonderful experience.” The students would show up every Wednesday from 4-6 p.m. to weed and plant. “I love what is happening and I can see it blooming,” she said.

The students who accumulate the required number of intern hours through ReWild also receive a check from ReWild Long Island. The internship program is the first of its kind for the organization’s new East End chapter, and is modeled on the successful and ever-expanding program in ReWild’s home base, Port Washington, where over 40 students from five different high schools volunteered at historic houses, pollinator gardens, organic vegetable and oyster farms this past summer.

The core value of the ReWild Summer Program to Fight Hunger and Climate Change is peer-to-peer mentoring. Now that the inaugural summer is over, the current East End student members will be invited to design and manage next year’s activities, using their leadership and social media skills to recruit and guide the next summer cohort.

To commemorate the camaraderie and success of the inaugural year, all nine students picked up their shovels and got their hands dirty while planting heads of lettuce in the garden.