Published Thursday, May 1, 2025
When Markyl joined Teen Corps at Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in summer 2019, he was a recent high school graduate looking for a summer job that would prepare him for college. He did not know that this would be the beginning of a journey filled with hands-on learning, personal growth, and career development.
Franklin Park Conservatory’s Teen Corps internship program is designed to teach local teens work and life skills through hands-on programming and experiential learning in urban gardening. Offered yearly in the summer, up to 24 teens spend 20 hours weekly working in a community garden, growing produce, and selling it at their own stand at the Conservatory’s weekly Farmer’s Market. Throughout the eight weeks, participants also learn about horticulture, the environment, health and nutrition, cooking, entrepreneurship, communication and self-reliance.
During his summer spent in Teen Corps, Markyl learned and developed a wide array of career and life skills, ranging from resume building to gardening techniques and vegetarian cooking. He worked alongside 14 fellow teens through the entire process of planting, harvesting and selling their own produce at the Conservatory’s weekly seasonal Farmers Market. Planting, tending to, and harvesting produce like kale, cucumbers, tomatoes, squash and herbs such as lavender, thyme, oregano and apple mint, exposed Markyl to the world of urban gardening, and taught him a variety of technical skills in gardening and agriculture. Operating the Teen Corps Farmers Market booth weekly, although described by Markyl as “the most nerve-wracking days,” pushed him out of his comfort zone and helped him develop public speaking, communication, customer service, and even cash handling skills. In fall 2019, after the 8-week internship, Markyl started school at The Ohio State University, pursuing degrees in Japanese and Game Design.
Fast-forward, Markyl proudly graduated from The Ohio State University in December 2023 and returned to the Conservatory as a staff member in summer 2024. In his role of Teen Corps Educator, Markyl assists with Teen Corps program creation and implementation, and serves as a mentor for Teen Corps participants throughout their summer experience. He also collaborates with his fellow Teen Corps Educator, Edee, and Community Education Manager, Cindy Maravich, to administer a weekly, nature-focused after school program. Markyl, Edee and Cindy spend every Friday during the school year at Fairwood Elementary School, connecting kids to nature through fun, educational lessons and activities. During the afterschool program, students anywhere from first to sixth grade participate in hands-on lessons that engage them in their environment around them, from sampling foods like snap peas and radishes, to exploring vocabulary of the plant vascular system, and caring for the school garden. Markyl and his team work to adapt weekly programming to the kids’ interests, while keeping an emphasis on sustainability, curiosity, and a deeper appreciation for the nature around them.
Markyl’s Teen Corps experience and work as an Educator continue to spark a heightened awareness of and passion for sustainability, education, and food justice that echoes in his personal life and community work today.
He credits his personal and community-based sustainability efforts to a memorable field trip to the SWACO landfill during his summer as a Teen Corps intern. After lessons and discussions about recycling and the impacts of unmitigated waste, the 2019 Teen Corps cohort visited the local SWACO landfill, where they saw the waste of their community firsthand. Markyl reflected, “When I started Teen Corps I had a pretty shallow understanding of waste and sustainability, and this field trip really connected the dots for me.” Now, as a Teen Corps Educator, Markyl gets to see similar reactions of teens during the annual field trip to SWACO. Experiencing this through a different lens than when he was a teen, Markyl enjoys seeing how impactful this visit is, and sees the teens connect the dots of where their waste goes, just as he did.
Reflecting on his experience in Teen Corps and now as an Educator, Markyl shared that he never imagined himself working with children on a weekly basis or being a mentor for teens just a few years younger than him. However, Markyl truly enjoys and is proud of the work he does, and has fun learning and engaging with the kids and teens. He takes the approach of “What and who did I need when I was a kid?” and is intentional about being a fun, trusted adult figure in their lives. When he hears from kids that they are worried about climate catastrophe and climate change, Markyl reminds them, “Just because you are a kid, does not mean you are helpless.” Through his work at Fairwood Elementary and as a Teen Corps Educator, Markyl is passing on the knowledge and skills he learned in Teen Corps in 2019, striving to encourage awareness and interest in the environment, sustainability, and agriculture.
Markyl with his grant award certificate at the Youth Climate Action Fund Celebration earlier this year
Inspired by his time in Teen Corps, Markyl applied to the Columbus Youth Climate Action Fund, an initiative that provides microgrants to youth-led climate action projects. Excitingly, Markyl was awarded a microgrant and is currently working on his project to create and implement a workshop series for high school students focused on sustainability. He also plans to revive the community garden in his neighborhood this summer, and is thinking about going back to school for degrees in Agriculture and Astronomy, connecting two of his fond interests.
Learn more about Teen Corps!