WNCStrong Youth Service Corps

The WNCStrong Youth Service Corps offers youth in Western North Carolina a work-based learning experience that supports resilient food and agricultural systems in our region. High school sophomores and juniors in participating counties gain invaluable hands-on experience through paid internships on farms in their home communities. Along the way, they learn about food systems, careers in agriculture, and develop leadership and career-readiness skills. The Corps supports disaster recovery and the socioemotional resilience of youth as they rebuild and restore critical food and farming infrastructure in their hometowns.

For more information, please contact Eric Klein at eaklein2@ncsu.edu

Are you a teacher interested in working with the Corps? 

The WNCStrong Youth Service Corps employs one teacher at each participating high school to serve as a mentor to Corps members and as a liaison between the program and their school.

Service Corps Teachers/Mentors receive a stipend for their approximately 9 month (March – November) commitment. If you are a full-time employee of a partnering school or district and would like to apply to be a Service Corps Teacher/Mentor, please visit this page for more information about the role, commitment, and application process.

Become a WNCStrong Youth Service Corps member!

If you are:

• a high school sophomore or junior attending Asheville, Erwin, Madison, Mountain Heritage, or North Henderson High School

and

• have a strong interest in learning about farms and farming through hands-on work
• have a desire to serve your community; and
• are willing and able to commit to a 28 week internship program

then please follow this link to learn more about what it means to be a Corps member and/or apply to the Corps.

Applications are due Friday, March 28th at noon.

Featured Farm & Interns

Hayden and Aiden at Burley Stick Farm, Barnardsville, NC

Since May, two Service Corps members from North Buncombe High School, Hayden and Aiden, have been working at Burley Stick. For over 100 years, the Metcalf family at Burley Stick has been raising beef cattle on their farm along Ivy Creek in Buncombe County. Hurricane Helene’s deluge caused the creek to swell and the flooding filled the Metcalf’s lower hay fields with debris, silt and weeds. The two teenagers have had ample opportunity to learn to mend fences, work on bailing equipment and assist with the next generation of Metcalf beef. Aiden reflects: “I didn’t really have any experience with it, so it was cool to learn how to wean calves.”

The WNCStrong Youth Service Corps is funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, support from Dogwood Health Trust, and a generous contribution from the North Carolina Alliance for Health.