Where Are They Now

Kaylen Springfield

From Farm Camp kid to environmental science student: Kaylen Springfield

THEN, Kaylen Springfield was an eager young child who had heard about the Chicago Lights Urban Farm around her neighborhood and was ready to participate in their programs the moment she was old enough.

“I know I was the youngest you could be to be eligible,” she recalls with a laugh. “All my siblings and cousins also went to Farm Camp.” And once she got started, she didn’t stop. Kaylen attended the Farm’s summer camps throughout her elementary years. “We would make natural things, like toothpaste with ingredients we’d harvested, and we learned how to take care of plants,” she recalls. And it turns out, those lessons stuck with her.

As a high school student, Kaylen returned to the Farm to work with Farmer Ben, and she was a counselor for Farm Camp in the summers. She realized she loved getting her hands dirty and helping things grow, and she also loved the way the community at the Farm helped her grow. “This is something I’m interested in, but it’s also something I’ve known for more than 10 years of my life,” she remembers thinking as she graduated from Alcott College Prep High School in 2024. “The Farm is a great place, and everyone is so sweet. It’s like a big family, a nice community.”

NOW, drawing on her foundation in the Urban Farm community, Kaylen is a student at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where she is studying environmental sustainability. “The Farm has been a big inspiration for my college career,” she says. “Sustainability has always been important to me.”

Though she’s very much still learning and not yet sure what she’d like to do with her degree, Kaylen is considering work as a sustainable practices consultant or advisor, helping companies make environmentally friendly choices. “I like the idea of sustainability. I’m in tune with it, so I don’t see why I can’t make it my career,” she says.

For now, though, she’s focused on making the most of her college experience. She’s attending University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on a full scholarship, and she’s proud to be finding success there, now in her second semester of her second year. She’s also looking forward to returning to the Farm this summer, where she again worked as a Camp assistant last year. “I love the kids,” she says. “They’re my brothers’ and little cousins’ ages, and it’s so cute to see them where I once was. It’s nostalgic, and great to work with them and take on that leadership role that inspired me so much.”