Alexander Girouard
Family Education and Youth Intern
Alexander Girouard. Photo by Kai Amani.My name is Alexander Girouard, and I was the Family Education and Youth Intern at Green Spring Gardens this summer. I’m a rising junior at West Springfield High School. I was a counselor-in-training in the summers of 2024 and 2023 prior to this experience, and I have been hugely grateful to work in such a welcoming environment. The staff members and camp staff make Green Spring Gardens an exceptional community.
My experience with the camps in 2025 has brought me vast experience and creativity. I had the opportunity to support decision making on lesson planning, creating, and setting up activities, and I even taught some activities to the campers. My position provided plenty of skill building. I can even say that I learned more than the campers from all the expertise provided and the critical thinking involved! I can’t give enough credit to my supervisors, Bailey Price and Kai Amani, who with their knowledge and kindness towards me and the other counselors, made the opportunity a very supportive experience.
I thoroughly enjoyed working with the Green Spring campers this summer and had a blast helping to put activities together and seeing the excitement of the campers as a result. One of our favorite activities was the Excavation Investigation camp, where the campers worked on creating small volcanoes and dinosaurs out of clay and natural material from the garden. The campers then activated them with baking soda and vinegar, and their reactions and happiness were priceless.
After working at Green Spring Gardens, I’ll be able to take on future opportunities with significantly more preparation, and the credit goes to my supervisors and coworkers for making that something I can say confidently.
