GROW program apprentices spruce up Algonquin College courtyard

Apprentices in the government-funded GROW Training for New Workers program, offered by Landscape Ontario, worked through the afternoon of Oct. 21 on the courtyard between J and N-buildings to fulfill a landscaping plan provided by Amanda Barr, grounds coordinator at Algonquin College.

Abi Hamam, one of GROW’s new apprentices, has a YouTube channel called “The Microverse” dedicated to building terrariums. Hamam said growing and caring for plants helped him with mental health struggles and he joined the program as an effort to work closer with nature.

“One winter it was particularly sad, and I thought, I could really use some green to look at right now,” said Hamam. “So, I made this teeny tiny terrarium at my work and every day I’d come and spray it. That gives you a little something to look forward to.”

Angela Firman, one of two supervisors on-site, said GROW is working with the college’s facilities management department. The partnership allows apprentices to use the horticulture program’s greenhouse and selected areas on campus for hands-on training.

“We’re using it as a learning classroom so the students have an opportunity to experience what it would be like as an industry professional working within a space to plant a garden,” said Firman, who is an instructor for the GROW program and a professor in Algonquin College’s horticulture program. “They’re learning the skills, using the tools and then working as a team to see what a finished product can look like.”

The facilities management department also provided GROW apprentices with the plants used on the planting plan.

GROW’s head office is in Milton Ont., but apprentices get the opportunity to work at their satellite locations as well, according to Lindsey Best, one of the supervisors on-site at the college. Best is also an instructor for the GROW program and a professor in the college’s horticulture program.

Hamam said he hopes students can go out to the courtyard in the spring and enjoy looking at the greenery they planted.

“We put a bunch of nice plants in there, and next season it’s going to be beautiful,” he said. “I hope that come springtime you come out here and you’re like, ‘Oh, yeah, these guys did a good job.'”