Hands-on projects at Oak Creek provide real world skills for young women

Tucked behind the concrete walls of Oak Creek Correctional Facility in Albany are rows of red tomatoes and ripe zuchinni. The plants are thriving in neatly aligned raised beds with piped-in irrigation.

Like the young women who live here while serving their sentences, the vegetables are are out of plain sight but not out of the minds of Kevin Hunking and the staff of the Oregon Youth Authority.

The project is just part of a "green" initiative taking place as a joint effort among MESD's educational staff and Oak Creek employees.

On a recent windy day, Kevin led a tour of the building's south side. He described how young women who have earned the privilege of spending time outside created a garden, constructed a greenhouse, installed solar panels, erected a power-generating wind turbine and built indoor and outdoor beds for plants and vegetables.

Their work integrates instructional goals of mathematics and engineering along with the lesson about teamwork required to successfully collaborate with others toward a common goal.

The construction crew is led by Doug Charles, an OYA veteran who has a wealth of carpentry, plumbing and electical know-how. Under Doug's tutelage, Oak Creek residents are learning skills that will serve them well when their incarceration is over.

Asked what they have learned from their work, Hanna, Essence and Vanessa all say "patience." Yet besides this virtue, they are able to explain how solar and wind will power the greenhouse.

While the work done so far is impressive, Kevin said it is far from done.

Plans include landscaping a terraced entry way to the greenhouse, building additional growing frames and installing more solar panels. The students are even collaborating with Oregon State University on growing endangered plants and those that will attract and sustain the Fender's Blue butterfly, a species that only lives in certain areas of the Willamette Valley.

Hanna, Essence and Vanessa measure, cut and install piping that will feed the plants in a spacious greenhouse

Kevin says the students have done a fantastic job of
building beds, keeping them verdant and harvesting
the crop for Oak Creek's food service