Virtual Exchange with Green Projects in Europe
Vocational Education and Training (VET) Students Work with Plantsoon
"My dream is to make a difference for the most vulnerable students."
250 Students from 6 Countries
Eveline Seghers is the coordinator of the Futures through Design Research Center (KASK) at HOGENT. As part of an Erasmus+ project, the college aims to develop and put into practice more circular ways of thinking through various activities, from workshops to student exchanges and a farm-to-table project, in secondary VET (vocational) schools. These are vocational schools with programs such as personal care, green management, hospitality, and woodworking.
About 250 students from 10 secondary schools in 6 European countries (Belgium, Aruba & Curaçao - Netherlands, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, and Bulgaria) are participating in the project.
"Going to Aruba and Curaçao has opened my eyes. There are so many problems with healthy nutrition there. Many children struggle with obesity due to the abundance of junk food. Local cultivation is for export, and import is very expensive. With this project, we want to raise awareness about both healthy nutrition and the climate problem among a target group that is often forgotten."
Plantsoon as a Virtual Exchange Tool
During the project preparation, Eveline came into contact with Plantsoon at the SETT fair and was immediately interested in incorporating the platform into the green projects set up by the schools. All schools receive a three-year subscription and can register their greenhouse, facade garden, or food forest on it themselves. Additionally, Plantsoon provides coaching to the schools so they can work smoothly with the tool.
Eveline: "We hope that each green project will become a lasting story. That the students build stakeholder networks so that their food forest or greenhouse can continue to exist. We also focus on learning progress for the students, such as knowledge of English, but also various soft skills. At the end of the project, students from each school will be able to go on an exchange to one of the other partner countries in the project. For the other young people, we find it very nice that they can still visit the project of the fellow schools online via the Plantsoon website. That is an enormous added value for us."
hello@plantsoon.com