From farm to table, Oregon kids learn at Bethel Farm Camp

Groups of students could be seen frolicking around the Bethel Farm wearing their beekeeper suits, making carrot muffins and playing games like "poison dart frog."

Approximately 30 elementary students from the Bethel School District attended the last day of the Bethel Farm Camp on Friday to learn about farm animals and harvesting vegetables.

The elementary school students operated in groups of 10 and rotated between different stations throughout the day.

The Bethel Farm, tucked between Prairie Mountain School and Kalapuya High School, has played host to this three-week summer program since 2016.

The camp is in part led by students from Kalapuya High, an alternative high school in Bethel. Bethel staff partnered with the Oregon State University Extension Service to lead the daily activities.

In exchange for spending three weeks of their summer vacation guiding younger students, the high schoolers receive class credit and $15 per hour.

Kalapuya High School senior Genesis Villarreal said she loves working at the Bethel Farm because of each child's unique personality.

"One of the little girls came up to me, handed me a flower, and said, 'This is for you, for being such a great teacher.' It is things like that which I love," Villarreal said.

The Bethel Farm gives students from Kalapuya High School an opportunity to mentor the younger generations and gain practical work experience.

"This is my dream for what education could be," said camp organizer West Kaufman, adding that the three-acre farm is a testimony of education done correctly.

"I just think that this is one of the coolest camps around here," said Ben MonDragon, parent of Jackson MonDragon. "With some camps we have done [Jackson] doesn't want to go, but he was waking us up to get ready for camp."

During this year's camp, students harvested strawberries, lettuce, kale, broccoli, snap peas and more. The food harvested from the farm is used in school cafeterias throughout the years and neighbors come to the Bethel Farm every Wednesday to collect produce.

On the final day of the Bethel Farm Camp, parents of the students came to see what each student had learned.

The Bethel Farm Camp is free for Bethel students entering the fourth and fifth grades every summer.

More information about the Bethel Farm can be found at sites.google.com/bethel.k12.or.us/thebethelfarm/home_1

Josiah Pensado is a multimedia reporter for The Register-Guard through the Charles Snowden Program for Excellence in Journalism. You can contact him at jpensado@gannett.com and follow him on Instagram @jpa.photos

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: From farm to table, Oregon kids learn at Bethel Farm Camp