SPARC DAY Event Sparks Students' Interest in Social Justice for Farmworkers

 

On Saturday, August 21, 19 Rollins College students and Professor Joe Siry visited the FWAF offices in Apopka to learn about the realities facing farmworkers in Florida and the U.S.  They met former farmworkers Linda Lee and Mary Ann Robinson from Apopka who talked about what life was like for them on the farms.  They, also, were treated to the unveiling of the second Lake Apopka Farmworkers Memorial Quilt, created by former Lake Apopka muck farmworkers.

 

After learning about the background, history, environmental problems and social justice issues surrounding the closing of the farms on Lake Apopka, the students took a Lake Apopka Toxic Tour - visiting the former farms lands and the standing on the shore of the lake at Magnolia Park.  The tour concluded with a drive through the community that is home to a medical waste incinerator, a construction debris landfill, a sewage treatment plant, and plastics manufacturing industries.  Thus, the students learned about and saw firsthand an environmental justice community.  

 

Returning to the office, students contributed to the quilt by creating quilt squares of their own that will eventually become a part of the traveling quilt.

 

Thanks to Rollins College for engaging students in these service learning experiences and raising their consciousness about social justice issues.