In the six years of operations at the Henry Got Crops Farm at Saul High School, our farmers and our nonprofit, formerly Weavers Way Community Programs, now Food Moxie, have worked with Saul students year-round, teaching about plant life cycles through seeding, transplanting, weeding in the summer heat and, of course, harvesting. They incorporate cooking classes to give students ideas about how to use the produce they’ve grown. Food Moxie also hosts a summer internship program through the Philadelphia Youth Network that places students, from Saul and other schools, in jobs on the farm. 

The Henry Got Crops Farm Market at Saul has grown quickly, and using it as a place to provide career development for students has been a goal of ours since the beginning. Since we are a grocery store, teaching students about customer service and the retail food industry is a no-brainer. This season, for the first time, we added a student staff position, and we’re excited to have Onjané Johnson, Saul 2016, helping us at the farm market!

Onjané is well known around the farm as a responsible and hardworking student. She interned with WWCP last summer, and as part of her internship, spent a few days working at the farm market. In that short amount of time, she quickly impressed us with her ability to work with shoppers and learn the register. Working after school in June, she’ll expand her hours during the summer and through the end of the market in October. She will also be our student farmer at the Saul location this summer, working alongside Farm Manager Nina Berryman and Henry Got Crops Field Manager Emma Dosch another two hours a week. 

Onjané studied Environmental Science at Saul and will be attending Widener University in the fall. She is interested in studying biochemistry, biomedical engineering and biomechanics. In her free time, she likes to read and play Pokemon. Her favorite vegetables are broccoli, zucchini, cabbage and kale, and she was too shy to have her picture taken for this story. 

Stop by the Farm Market Tuesday or Friday afternoon and say “Hi” to Onjané!