“Horticulture is something hard to learn from books or in classrooms, so I think being here shows you how a day’s work would actually be. It can be really rewarding to take care of something, and in turn, you didn’t realise it was taking tare of you at the same time.”

Make (Good) Trouble was invited to devise and deliver workshops for work experience students at Wakehurst – the wild botanic garden in Sussex, part of RBG Kew. Our workshops are designed to help students process what they have learnt on their placement, and to disseminate that into a podcast and written piece for their CV. 

The workshops

Starting with interview techniques training and how to use audio recording equipment, the groups spent time recording interviews with each other, describing their week, as well as sound effects from the gardens to help build an aural picture of their experiences.  

“The biggest challenge? It’s a very exhausting job – it fatigues you – but it’s not something that’s negative. To step back and look at how much work you’ve done, the rewards outweigh the fatigue tenfold.”

The resulting podcasts give listeners a real feel for what it’s like to be a work experience student at Wakehurst, working in horticulture, retail, education, marketing and the Millennium Seed Bank. 

They created the podcasts on the final day of their placement with Make (Good) Trouble. It is a one-day workshop, designed to help young people to make sense of their work placements, articulate what they’ve learnt, sharpen their communication and listening skills, and prepare for future job interviews. 

Grab a coffee and listen to Wakehurst’s Class of 2025.

Carrots, Caffeine and Conservation

by Euan, Tess, Ava, Mia and Evan.

Seeds, Soil and Strange Conversations

by Oliver, Thalia, Bryce, Evie and Ruby.

👋 If you’re interested in us augmenting your organisation’s work placements with a Make (Good) Trouble workshop, let us know!

🌳 Wakehurst work placements are open to young people aged 14-18. Contact wakehurstworkexperience@kew.org for information on how to apply.

🎧 Hear Wakehurst’s Class of 2024 podcasts here.