Graduation Day LA: Young man takes time off to farm

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On a sunny Friday morning, the learning garden of Venice High School is full of busy teenagers. One of them is watering the lettuce, another one digging small holes for potatoes. 18-year old Calder Katz is looking at his little patch of land.

“Farming and growing things, that is almost like being a parent, you know. You plant these seeds, you nurture them and you make them become as good as possible. You make them the best that they can be,” he explains.

The every-morning landscaping class is Calder’s favorite. For him, actually enjoying a subject in school hasn’t come easy. He has never really wanted to fit in.

“I try to be different. I have always thought that being weird is really cool. Get away from the calming rabble of everybody else and go into your own little world!”

But in school being different is not always appreciated. Calder is expected to complete the assignments like everybody else, which for him is sometimes hard to understand.

“I have never really been a school person. I really think that the whole school system is sort of a fitting a person into a box,” he says, “like writing an essay, that’s such a standardized thing at thing at this point. Its five paragraphs, you have to have the introduction, core paragraphs and then the conclusion. Maybe you don’t want to write it that way. Maybe you want to start it like a movie, where it starts in the end. That doesn’t fly with schools.”

Calder hit the bottom five years ago, when he failed seventh grade.

“I repeated seventh grade, that is terrible. What student does that. Nobody else did that. That is really hard thing to live through next year, because everybody knows. You get picked on.”

Calder’s father, Alan Katz is an artist and understands his son’s frustrations with school.

“We are all like rejects from the school system. We are alternative thinkers that we tend to learn our own ways and school puts you into a rigid regimentation, which is geared towards creating a product than a human being.”

Alan Katz has even encouraged Calder to not rush into college, but rather to do some travelling.

“My daughter went to India. It changes you. I think kids go into college way too soon. They need to spend some time and explore the world and find out what they are interested in. Not just do what their parents say.”

Calder’s landscaping teacher Diane Pollock holds fresh broccoli in her hands.

“Calder! It is so good. After the rain it is full of nitrogen. Yum! This is your chance to forage! Go and rob the garden!” she shouts.

The students follow Miss Pollock’s instructions and are soon snaffling cauliflower and green peas.

“They need to explore, they need to enjoy what the earth is like so they can go out and work with and find out what is important to save their environment,” Diane Pollock explains with a smile on her face.

Here Calder feels happy. He doesn’t have to write perfectly structured essays nor follow unnecessary rules.

“She is not a very strict person. She lets you be as creative as you want generally. You don’t have to put them into a grid, you don’t have to make it look like a farm…” he says.

Gardening has given Calder so much that after graduation he will head overseas to do some farming. He is not in a hurry to continue his studies.

“I would have never expected to be on the top of the class. I feel like I am actually quite useful. People come to me to find out more about gardening. That is so strange to me I have never had that aura to me.”

“I am going to Sweden for three months to work on an organic farm by myself. I really feel like that’s going to change me. I don’t think I will come back as a same person who left.”

For Calder, it will be a year of not only growing vegetables, but also, growing as person.