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Candiss works with Success Valley Strawberries through the
BeMoneySmartUSA Rent-A-Teen Program |
Working with the Rent-A-Teen program has been a very rewarding experience for me. I work for Success Valley Farms at the Strawberry Booth. Their strawberries are grown in Oxnard, which is below Santa Barbara, and we are selling a winter berry called the Ventana. The strawberries that are grown on their farm are not certified organic, but they do fertilize organically. They don’t use any methionine, they use a mustard-seed oil instead, which is organic.
I have learned many things while working for Success Valley Farms. One is how to make your strawberries last for 2 weeks. What you do is, take a plastic Tupperware container, put a few paper towels on the bottom, put your strawberries in the container, put the container in the refrigerator, and wash the strawberries right before you eat them, and they will last. Strawberries do not like moisture, so if you wash them as you put them in the refrigerator and let them sit there before you eat them, they are likely to spoil sooner.
Being able to work with the farmers gives me the chance to perfect my people interacting skills. I am constantly talking and engaging people in conversation for six hours every Saturday. I ask them how they are, and they in turn ask me how I am. They ask me about the strawberries I am selling them, and I answer their questions to the best of my abilities. Being able to interact with people and have an actual conversation is a great tool for now, and in the future when work becomes more serious. I know that being able to interact in this manner with people will definitely help me succeed in the future.
Along with people skills, I also get to exercise my math skills. Selling strawberries, or even anything at the Farmers Market involves money, and therefore math. I feel very lucky to be given the opportunity to exchange money, and make sure that I am giving back the right amount of change. I am thankful that I get the opportunity to do this at such an early age, because I know that I will have to do a lot more of this when I am older, so it is a good thing that I am being exposed to this now, as opposed to never being given the chance to like so many kids today. I know that in the future I will be very confident in giving back change, counting, and exchanging money, so I am very glad to have had this experience now. I always love to play Monopoly, and whenever I get a chance I will always ask my mom and sister to play with me. When I was younger I used to play Monopoly a lot, and would always insist on being the ‘bank’. So, on the first day of the Farmers Market, when I gave our first customer their change back, all I kept thinking in my head was, ‘I am so glad for Monopoly.’ A lot of customers that we have are very impressed that I am able to count back change, which I must say, I am very thankful for my mother always telling me to do that.
I love being able to go to the Farmers Market every Saturday and sell strawberries.
It is a wonderful community that I love to be in. I love offering people a strawberry and seeing the joy on their face that says ‘Aw, now this is what a strawberry should taste like’. I enjoy working with Success Valley Farms a lot and am very grateful that I am a part of Be Money Smart and the Rent-A-Teen program. I love working at the Farmers Market and could not have asked for a better thing to do on a Saturday.
Written by Candiss, 14 - Orangevale Open
